My Wife is Unbeatable in the Whole World, Touch Me If You Dare!-Chapter 292 - 171: When It’s Excellent [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

Chang'an.

Imperial Examination First Examination Hall.

The First Examination Hall accommodated two thousand people and was one of the best examination halls in the capital region. Li Nuo and Song Yu entered the hall together, and then they separated to go to their designated rooms based on their examination certificates.

Just like the spring examination, the first subject of the Imperial Examination was Book Department.

Compared to the spring examination, the Imperial Examination was much more challenging. Candidates had to learn to make choices, usually placing their strongest subjects first.

Li Nuo aimed to become the top scholar; naturally, he could not make such choices. Calligraphy, painting, law, composition—he excelled in all four.

He started by opening an envelope containing the calligraphy test paper.

This time, the content was not from the "Sixteen Classics" but a famous calligraphy piece containing sixty-two characters. Candidates needed to write it in three different script types.

The three script types referred to major categories of calligraphy scripts—seal script, clerical script, regular script, running script, and cursive script, choosing any three. Using three variations of regular script was not allowed; the other two scripts would be considered invalid.

If confident in their skills, to save time, candidates could choose to write only one piece. However, in case of a tie, their rank would only be lowered.

Fortunately, Li Nuo was well prepared.

Had he still only known the Hairpin Flower Small Regular Script, the calligraphy section alone would have exposed his limitations.

He dipped his brush in ink, and with the fluidity of a dragon or snake, he wrote in regular script, running script, and cursive script, which were the most common script types currently, except he used standard regular instead of the Hairpin Flower Small Regular Script.

The examination room was exceptionally spacious, with a table at the back specifically for drying calligraphy and paintings.

Li Nuo hung the three calligraphy papers at the back and opened another envelope.

Bright sun enhances heavy shadows of flowers, warm spring chirping of birds.

Upon glancing at the painting topic, Li Nuo was surprised. The three thousand taels of silver from Li Anning had not been spent in vain—the old court painter might not have been very skilled, but his ability to predict examination topics was unmatched.

Indeed, this session of the Imperial Examination was focusing on birds and flowers.

Candidates needed to incorporate both ink painting and color painting techniques to depict the scene described in the poem.

Compared to the spring examination a month ago, Li Nuo had more than a dozen painting grandmasters from Daxia standing behind him.

He envisioned the painting just by glancing at the topic.

By the time he finished the painting, it wasn't even lunchtime yet.

Li Nuo ate something, washed his hands in the room's water bucket, dried them, and then opened the law examination paper.

The law test still consisted of twenty questions.

But the questions were harder and covered a broader range, including "Official System Law," "Marriage Law," "Shanxing Law," "Guard Restriction Law," and even the most miscellaneous and disorganized "Miscellaneous Law," apart from those tested in the spring examination like "Appellation Law," "Judgment Law," "Thief Stealing Law," "Litigation Law."

The difficulty was incomparable to the spring examination; had Li Nuo not memorized the entire "Daxia Law," he might not have been able to answer perfectly.

When Li Nuo finished the law section, over at another room within the First Examination Hall,

Song Yu had just turned to the law examination question.

These questions, he found neither completely unfamiliar nor fully familiar.

For each question, he could write a few sentences, but not much.

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However, one question he remembered very clearly.

"Those who strike others with hands and feet are to receive forty lashes; those who assault with weapons, sixty lashes; groups of three or more who assault and cause injury increase the penalty by one level, groups of five, two levels, and groups of ten, three levels."

According to the description, this situation involves seven people fighting with weapons, starting with sixty lashes, and since the number is between five and ten people, it's increased by two levels, making it eighty lashes...

Shortly before Song Yu confidently began writing, in the rooms of several Yunmeng Academy students, their faces of agony and contemplation vanished, replaced by confident strokes of the pen.

Meanwhile, in another room,

Zhou Yu had already completed the law and composition sections.

The law was not difficult—as long as one memorized "Daxia Law," scoring excellently wasn't easy, but securing an A+ was relatively straightforward.

However, composition, calligraphy, and painting were not his strengths; he had to do his best, or else he wouldn't even get the chance to demonstrate his horse riding skills.

Inside Li Nuo's examination room, he had started the last subject.

This year's composition exam was quite interesting.

The Imperial Examination's essay topic was 'Securing a Place on the Golden Roll,' subtly conveying the examiner's blessings toward the candidates, providing a gentle touch of warmth amidst the fiercely competitive examination.

After finishing the essay, Li Nuo found the topic even simpler than the spring examination.

Though he had read many books during this period, the most crucial were the top-ranked Book Department examination papers from various sessions that Li Anning had sneaked out to him.

Having read those classic compositions frequently, his improvement was naturally significant.

After finishing all the papers, Li Nuo asked a patrolling examiner about the time and learned that there was still an hour before the end of today's examination.

Li Nuo, worried about submitting early and being caught by Li Anning, decided to wait inside the examination room.

For Li Nuo, there was plenty of time.

But for most people, that was not the case.

Calligraphy was somewhat manageable, and law was either known or not, but painting required conceptualization, poetry needed thought, and composition demanded careful choice of words, all consuming much more time than he needed.

This section required the candidates to prioritize.

The Book Department calculated total scores, maximizing strengths and minimizing weaknesses in subjects. How to allocate time had to be planned before the examination.

9 p.m.

The Imperial Examination's first Book Department session officially ended.