My Wife is Unbeatable in the Whole World, Touch Me If You Dare!-Chapter 281 - 163: First in the Spring Exam

The first round of the spring examination had already ended.

By the next afternoon, all the examination papers from various halls had been graded.

On the third morning, the list of those who passed the Book Department was posted on the wall outside the Examination Hall.

On the red paper, there were no names, only examination numbers.

From childhood, studying the Six Arts required a large investment of money, and even the registration fee for the spring exam was one hundred taels of silver.

Those who could participate in such exams were either rich or noble.

And the wealthy families often belonged to several major surnames, such as Li, Cui, Wang, Pei, Zheng, etc. It was quite possible for candidates to have the same names, but each candidate's exam number was unique and there could be no mistake.

Li Nuo was assigned to the Seventh Examination Hall for the spring examination.

The spring exam was organized by Examination Halls, and after the Six Arts were finished, the scores of all candidates from all halls were summarized.

The Seventh Examination Hall had two thousand candidates, and the first Book Department round had eliminated more than half.

Whether it was the spring exam or the Imperial Examination, each subject had a passing line, and even those who excelled in only one area could not stray too far.

If one didn't pass the Book Department, even if they were strong in other subjects, they had no opportunity to show it.

Li Nuo found his exam number on the last piece of red paper posted outside the hall.

Of course, it wasn't because he ranked last, but because his exam number was towards the end.

After each subject, only a list of candidates was released, without specific rankings.

Only after all the Six Arts were finished and all the scores summarized would the final results be known.

Under the walls of the Examination Hall, those who found their numbers felt triumphant, their joy uncontainable.

Those who failed were downcast, only able to wait for next year to compete again.

Li Anning stood by his side, asking eagerly, "Did you find it?"

Li Nuo nodded.

Compared to the anxious Li Anning, his wife was much calmer.

Only those who passed the Book Department were eligible to participate in the next day's test.

That day, two subjects were tested, Mathematics and the Ritual Department.

The papers for both subjects were handed out in the morning.

Candidates had one whole day to answer, free to arrange the order themselves.

The questions for the spring exam were originally simpler than the Imperial Examination, equating to the difficulty of middle school and high school exams. The Mathematics had twenty questions, all within the "Nine Numbers," and of moderate difficulty, which Li Nuo quickly completed.

The Ritual Department was also not as in-depth as in the Imperial Examination, covering only some fundamental and superficial problems in rituals. For these types of written questions, Li Nuo didn't even need to think; he could just transcribe the answers.

After completing the two papers, it was not even noon yet.

There was no point in sitting down any longer, so Li Nuo handed in his papers and left the Examination Hall.

Since the exam lasted the entire day, his wife and Mumu wouldn't arrive until the afternoon.

However, Li Anning and Housekeeper Wu were waiting by the carriage. Seeing him come out so early, their expressions changed, and they immediately ran over, asking, "Why are you the only one who has come out? Were the questions very difficult and you couldn't answer them?"

She said somewhat annoyed, "Even if you didn't know, you should have waited until the time was up to come out. What if you suddenly figured it out?"

Li Nuo said speechlessly, "The questions were very simple, I answered all of them, can you have a little faith in me?"

Then, Li Anning's heart settled, and she said, "Even if you finished, you should have reviewed it. What if you made a mistake that you could have corrected..."

Li Nuo had no desire to explain further.

She must think this was like Ning'er and Mumu's classroom quiz, where one could erase a mistake and rewrite it. In the Imperial Examination, even a spot of ink that shouldn't be there could cause the entire paper to be graded lower.

After the screening of the Book Department, Ritual and Mathematics, the numbers had decreased by half.

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With fewer papers, grading was quicker.

The examiners graded overnight, and by the next midday, the list of those who had passed was posted.

Just with the Book Department alone, more than a thousand people were eliminated, but Ritual and Mathematics together eliminated less than two hundred.

This was not surprising; those eliminated by the Book Department were usually just trying their luck.

Those who passed the Book Department must have prepared well for the Imperial Examination and studied the Six Arts.

The questions in the Ritual and Mathematics of the spring examination were not difficult. According to the news from the Examination Hall, many people answered perfectly in these two subjects and received excellent evaluations.

The next three subjects, in order, were Music, Royal Procession, and Archery.

The Music Department exam still took place in the Examination Hall where candidates were to select and play a chapter from the Six Musics with the instrument restricted to only the qin.

Of the two thousand candidates of the Seventh Examination Hall, about six hundred remained at the Music step.

The Music Department was Li Nuo's least concern.

Although he could not convert the qin music into an attack like Liu Shang, solely in terms of skill, even Liu Shang standing before him couldn't confidently declare a win—much depended on the performance on the spot.

The Music Department exam moved slowly.

In one two-hour interval, around twenty people could be assessed.

The Seventh Examination Hall was further divided into ten smaller examination rooms, each overseen by three examiners.

Even if each room allocated sixty candidates, plus the examiners' discussion time, it would take more than four two-hour intervals to assess all candidates.

After three two-hour intervals, all the examiners were mostly exhausted.

In one examination room,

A young examiner threw down his red pen on the table, exclaiming angrily, "What kind of playing is this, grade C!"

The examiner to his left gave a helpless smile, saying, "Lord Liu, calm your anger. These young students still have a lot of room for improvement. You can't use your standards to judge them. This piece was at least grade B..."

Although it was the spring exam, it still concerned the candidates' future prospects.

Others had studied hard for ten years; their chances should not be cut short just because he had heard too much and was feeling irritable.