Back In Time For Imperial Examination Chapter 68

Before the college entrance examination, Zhao Shixiong and several of his classmates were trying to get Ryan Cui to take advantage of his luck in getting the first place in the exam. Ethan Peng and the Zhao family's long-serving attendant who came with them to take the exam were squeezed out of the way and had to hang around outside to prepare the exam baskets for them.

The rules of the academy examination were stricter than those of the previous two examinations. Candidates were only allowed to bring a long-eared examination basket into the examination room, which contained some writing brushes, ink and food. They were not allowed to bring anything else. Even the inkstone was prepared by the government. On the day of the examination, the prefectural and county school officials had to accompany the education commissioner to call the roll in front of the hall. When a student came, he had to be identified by the county teacher to ensure that there was no substitute for the examinee.

When Ryan Cui answered his call and entered the room, he felt that all the examiners' eyes were on him, especially the academic commissioner, who looked at him from head to toe several times, as if he wanted to see his whole body in his eyes. He suspected that a failed scholar secretly reported that he cheated in the provincial examination, so the academic commissioner stared at him like that, and hurriedly looked at him, holding the test paper and entering the room without looking away.

It was not until the test questions were handed out that he focused his attention on them and completely forgot about the gaze of the academician.

The first round was, as usual, one question on the Four Books and one on the Five Classics. The Four Books question was a question of a connection, and the two sentences "When beasts force people, they are close to beasts" from the fourth chapter of "Mencius: Teng Wengong Chapter and Verses" were chosen. The word "beasts" connected the topic, and it was also a question with an emotional connection.