Chapter 123: Framed in the Exam Venue

The teacher pulled Jiang Zhan and started to instruct him.

It was still early, and Du Ruo was a bit bored, so she simply stood on tiptoe to appreciate this rare scene.

Compared to the college entrance examination in her previous life, the ancient imperial examination had a clear difference.

Those carrying exam baskets, the youngest were only ten or so years old, like Jiang Zhan; the oldest were already over seventy, with silver hair, and surrounded by several teenage grandsons who kept cheering him on.

Learning until old and taking exams until old, this spirit was truly heartbreaking and admirable...

Du Ruo suddenly saw an acquaintance.

She tugged at Jiang Li's clothes, signaling that she wanted to go over for a bit.

Jiang Li looked over there and nodded.

"Third Uncle." Du Ruo squeezed over to greet him.

Jiang Fuzi didn't recognize her at first glance, but after sizing her up for a long time, he suddenly realized, and a smile appeared on his handsome face.

"Are you here to send Jiang Zhan?"

"Yes, Third Uncle." Du Ruo pointed to the direction of Xiushan Academy. "Jiang Li is also here."

Jiang Fuzi said "Hmm." "Jiang Zhan is a talented and hardworking child, so there will definitely be no problem, but it's not easy to get a high ranking."

There were many talents in this world, and no one could guarantee that they would definitely come out on top.

Besides strength, luck was also extremely important. For example, himself: he was unlucky every time he took the exam, either drawing a stinky number or having his paper soaked by rain, failing the exam every time.

"It doesn't matter; Zhan is still young. If it doesn't work this time, we'll come again next time; just treat it as accumulating experience." Du Ruo didn't really care.

While they were talking, several middle-aged and elderly people crowded around.

Each of them, like Jiang Fuzi, was carrying an exam basket.

One of them, a bearded man in his forties, bumped into Jiang Fuzi and asked with a smile: "Old Jiang, is this girl your niece?"

Jiang Fuzi was very annoyed. "What does it have to do with you?"

"Oh, don't be so stingy." The bearded man bared a mouthful of white teeth at Du Ruo. "Little girl, are you engaged? How old are you this year? I have four boys at home, all about your age..."

Before he finished speaking, an old man behind him picked up his cane and knocked on him. "Move, move, this girl was spotted by me first. My eldest grandson is good-looking and speaks well; he's much better than your four stinky boys."

"Hey, you old rascal, why are you fighting with me for a daughter-in-law? Why don't you mention that your eldest grandson goes to the flower house every day?"

"Bah, why don't you mention that your son crawls through dog holes and fights crickets!"

"Old rascal!"

"Dog father!"

"..."

Du Ruo was between laughter and tears; this was quite a farce.

Hey, it was her own fault for not knowing how to style her hair in this era, so she just used a ribbon to tie it into a fruit bun popular in her previous life, which led people to misunderstand that she was still an unmarried young girl.

Just as she was about to explain, Jiang Fuzi spoke first.

"Alright, stop fighting; she is my niece-in-law."

Niece-in-law? That meant she was already married? The bearded man and the old man looked at each other, both showing disappointed expressions.

What a pity; this girl's face looked like she would bring prosperity to her husband, and yet someone had gotten there first...

Just then, the gong for entering the venue sounded.

All the candidates became nervous, and the teachers of each academy began to summon their students, lining up and moving toward the gate of the County School.

The searchers at the gate were very diligent, carefully searching through every exam basket to prevent anyone from carrying contraband.

Besides that, they had to strip and check; several candidates who were lucky enough to have small characters written on the inner layers of their underwear, or who had hidden cheat sheets in their socks, were dragged away by soldiers.

Candidates who didn't have any problems continued to walk inside and began to sing the guarantee.

The Lin Sheng from the academy who provided the guarantee saw Jiang Zhan and immediately shouted: "Xiushan Academy student Jiang Zhan, guaranteed by Zhang!"

Jiang Zhan entered the exam venue very smoothly.

Although Wutou Xian wasn't very wealthy, the County School was, after all, a place to cultivate talents, so it was quite large.

With three courtyards and more than a dozen corridors and rooms, it was enough to accommodate these six or seven hundred people.

Jiang Zhan looked for his seat according to his exam number, and when he found it, he breathed a sigh of relief.

His luck was not bad; although it wasn't the best, at least it wasn't a stinky number.

Just as he was about to put the exam basket in, he saw Jiang Fuzi's face looking extremely ugly as he walked past him.

Looking at the direction, it was exactly the worst stinky number in the whole venue!

Jiang Zhan: "..."

What kind of fate was this for Third Uncle? It was like this every time.

After thinking about it, Jiang Zhan hurriedly followed and called out "Third Uncle" in a low voice.

Jiang Fuzi first looked around; most of the candidates were still looking for their seats, and it was messy, so talking a few words didn't matter.

"What is it?" he asked.

Jiang Zhan took out the red pill Du Ruo had given him from his exam basket and stuffed it into Jiang Fuzi's hand. "This medicine can block stinky smells; I don't need it, so I'll give it to you, Third Uncle."

After saying this, he hurriedly turned and returned to his seat.

Jiang Fuzi held the medicine, half-believing.

He absolutely trusted Jiang Zhan's character, but he didn't believe that this tiny pill could block stinky smells.

If there really was such a good thing, how come he had never heard of it before?

Jiang Fuzi shook his head, casually put the medicine on the edge of his exam basket, and carried it to the seat next to the latrine.

Soon, the candidates all found their exam sheds, and there was another burst of gong sounds, and the chief examiner came in.

To prevent the chief examiner from colluding with local candidates to cheat, the invigilation was all mixed up. For example, the chief examiner for Wutou Xian this time was County Lin Xianling from Lingbi Xian.

County Lin Xianling emphasized the exam rules, and then let the number soldiers in the venue distribute the papers.

These number soldiers were all brought by County Lin Xianling to assist him in invigilation.

After the paper was handed to Jiang Zhan, he looked at it roughly and had a bottom line in his heart.

If there were no accidents, he would definitely pass, but to get a good ranking, he would have to put in some effort.

Jiang Zhan ground the ink and then picked up his brush to answer the questions seriously.

The first sheet was all common question types like classic interpretation, arithmetic, and meaning of classics, which were also the most basic. Jiang Zhan's foundation was very solid, and he finished answering in less than an hour.

He put down his brush, and after the ink was completely dry, he carefully put it into the exam basket.

There was still enough time, so Jiang Zhan wasn't in a hurry, but closed his eyes to rest, intending to take a break before continuing with the second sheet.

A number soldier in his thirties walked back and forth in the aisle in front of him, his eyes monitoring every candidate's move like an eagle.

Suddenly, he stopped in front of Jiang Zhan's exam shed.

First, he glanced around, seeing that the candidates were all answering questions seriously and the chief examiner's attention wasn't here, so he secretly took out a cheat sheet from the inner layer of his sleeve and threw it onto Jiang Zhan's desk quickly.

Then he shouted sternly: "What are you doing?!" ===== CHAPTER 124 =====