Chapter 177 Mission 016

Zhang Xiucai understood what Shao's father meant very quickly. This was a good thing for him. After all, his family was not very wealthy. Studying was a very expensive thing. He could save a little bit. When he was about to nod and agree to share the rent, Jiang Xiucai suddenly said, "Although my courtyard is not big, it can accommodate a few more people. I wonder if you two are willing to live with Jiang?"

Zhang Xiucai was not the only one who was stunned by Jiang Xiucai's invitation. Even Xiao Yan and Shao's father were a little surprised.

From Jiang Xiucai's behavior, it was obvious that he would not be willing to invite Zhang Xiucai, who was not as good as him, to live in his courtyard, but he actually took the initiative to invite two people!

Jiang Xiucai didn't know what the three people were thinking. He showed a polite smile on his face and said to Xiao Yan, "Brother Shao and Jiang are of similar age. You can learn from each other and encourage each other."

One is less than 20 years old, and the other is almost 30 years old. This age "similar" is really "close" a bit far.

However, Xiao Ying also understood that the man surnamed Jiang wanted to show his favor to this young scholar - he might be a young juren in the future, so he invited him. As for Zhang Xiucai, he was probably just a by-product.

It was naturally good to not have to squeeze into the inn, so Xiao Ying smiled and nodded and said, "Brother Jiang, you are polite. The three of us are from the same hometown of Qingyang County, so we should learn from each other."

So Xiao Ying and Zhang Xiucai moved into the other courtyard bought by Jiang Xiucai's family in the capital city. The other courtyard was really small. The three of them moved in with their people and it was crowded. There was still one room missing, so Shao's father took the initiative to say that he would live in the same room with Jiang Xiucai's servant.

How could Xiao Ying let his biological father live with a servant? So he insisted on living with Shao's father in the same room with him.

Shao's father was worried that his snoring at night might affect his son's rest, so he really didn't want to. When the father and son were deadlocked, Jiang Xiucai took the initiative to say: "Why don't I live with Brother Shao, and uncle live in a separate room." Shao's father quickly refused. How could he let the host family squeeze into a room with his son and live alone? Jiang Xiucai smiled and said: "Uncle, don't be polite. Brother Shao is young and promising, and he has extraordinary talents. I can learn a lot from living with him." Xiao Ying suddenly felt that this slightly arrogant Jiang Xiucai was not so hopeless. At least when he wanted to make friends with someone, he could make people feel very comfortable. Under Xiao Ying's strong persuasion, Shao's father finally nodded and agreed. Jiang Xiucai ordered his servant to move his things to the guest room assigned to Xiao Ying, and to move Shao's father's things to his room, but was stopped by Shao's father: "It's embarrassing to ask you, the master, to move out. I'd rather live in the guest room."

In fact, this was also a little selfish of Shao's father. Even if he let his son live in the same room with Jiang Xiucai, he hoped that his son could live better. Jiang Xiucai's room, the master's home, was of course in better condition than the guest room.

Jiang Xiucai thought for a while and nodded: "My room is indeed bigger than the guest room, so let Brother Shao move into my room." He was not very happy to let a stranger completely occupy his room, and it was acceptable to give half of his room to Shao Qingyun, a classmate.

Xiao Ying ignored these details. He pulled Zhang Xiucai and Jiang Xiucai to discuss what range of questions might be tested in this provincial examination, commonly known as the topic of prediction. Both of them had experience in the provincial examination and gave him a lot of suggestions.

***

Time passed quickly, and the day of the provincial examination arrived.

Xiao Ying carried the exam supplies prepared by Shao's father and went to the exam room with Zhang Xiucai and Jiang Xiucai. The weather was still very cold, but the three of them could only wear a few single clothes as candidates. The court stipulated that candidates could not wear interlayered clothes to prevent smuggling.

It was a season of heavy cold dew, especially in ancient times. Except for Xiao Ying who was not afraid of the cold due to his internal strength, the other candidates were frozen blue.

To queue up to enter the exam room, you need to go through two inspections. The first one is to check whether the clothes and items the candidates wear and carry meet the exam regulations to prevent cheating. The second one is to let the candidates take off their clothes and check their whole body in a cramped small room. To be honest, the second inspection is seriously insulting, but in this era, fame is the step to get ahead. There are too many people who will take risks and prepare to cheat to get a good score, so this inspection is essential.

Of course, Xiao Ying would not allow those officers and soldiers to strip him naked for a physical examination. He used his mental power to hypnotize the two officers and soldiers who examined him, and then he stayed in the small room for a while and went out directly. The two officers and soldiers who were hypnotized by him naturally thought that they had already examined him and no one would find anything wrong.

The candidates took the exams in closed wooden houses. These wooden houses were very simple and leaked when it rained. Once a candidate was not careful and caused a fire, it would quickly spread to a large area of ​​wooden houses. It was not uncommon for candidates to be burned to death, and there were even more candidates who died of illness. It can be said that several candidates who entered the examination room at this time every year would lose their lives, but even so, people still flocked to this place.

Xiao Ying had bad luck as the examination room he was assigned to was actually near the toilet. He looked at the fat green-headed flies flying around in the wooden room and suddenly felt sick. He quickly spent a lot of his energy to chant a few spells to clean up the entire wooden room, and set up a small barrier to block out the stench of the toilet. Only then did he feel much more comfortable.

Feeling that the power in his body was almost exhausted, Xiao Yu couldn't help but smile bitterly. He didn't expect that he was consuming his power because of this... But he was already doing well. The unlucky guy next door who was closer to the toilet than him had been smoked out. In the past, he was carried out of the examination room by officers and soldiers. It is estimated that he will have to wait another three years to start over.

Xiao Yu insisted on surviving the provincial examination for several days. Although he had formed a barrier and used magic to clean himself several times, Xiao Yu still felt that he probably smelled bad. The first thing he did after returning from the examination room was to take a shower several times. .

When Father Shao waited for Xiao Yu to come out and heard that he had been assigned to a bad cell, his expression suddenly changed and he started to sigh. As a scholar, he has also experienced the imperial examination. Naturally, he knows how much influence bad names have on candidates. Unless he is a strong man with outstanding psychological quality, basically candidates with bad names will fail. Even if they do not fail, they will still fail. Ranking at the bottom of the list is not good.

Shao's father had no hope that his son would pass the exam this time, but he still suppressed his disappointment in front of Xiao Yu.

After the exam, Xiao Yu, Zhang Xiucai and Jiang Xiucai gathered together to discuss the exam.

The two people heard that he had been assigned a bad number, and showed some sympathy on their faces. They comforted: "You are still very young and talented. You are just unlucky this time." Although they both spoke implicitly, they obviously felt that I don’t think Xiao Yu can win this time.

Xiao Yu smiled faintly: "Although my position in this exam was very bad and I couldn't perform beyond my normal performance, I still feel that I performed as well as I should. I can't say that I will definitely get the top spot, but I am sure I will be on the list." His tone said Contains strong self-confidence and a touch of pride.

He was still being modest when he said this. As a monk, his brain development was far beyond that of ordinary people. The content of the imperial examination was determined. How could he not even be able to master the Four Books and Five Classics? What's more, when he wrote the article, he also included some of the natural principles that he had realized. As long as he didn't have a grudge against him and deliberately wanted to get rid of him, the examiner would feel relaxed and amazed after reading his exam paper.

However, Xiao Yu felt good, but Zhang Xiucai and Jiang Xiucai felt that he was bragging and talking big words, but he couldn't speak directly because of his face.

Xiao Yu didn't bother to defend himself. Facts speak louder than words. The results will be released in a few days, and we will know for ourselves when the time comes.

Father Shao felt in his heart that his son was unlucky enough to be assigned to a bad number this time and would definitely not pass the exam, but the results were released in a few days. Because of the little hope in his heart - maybe he would be able to win the exam at the bottom of the list... He did not propose it. He returned to Shaojia Village in advance, but still lived in the courtyard of Jiang Xiucai's house and waited for the results to be released.

On the day when the results were released, Xiao Yu and a few others booked a good seat by the window in a restaurant near the government office in advance, and then asked Jiang Xiucai's bookboy to check the results.

Originally, Shao's father also wanted to go, but Xiao Yu saw the crowds on the side where the results were released and decisively stopped Shao's father. It was so crowded that it was not good for Shao's father to squeeze out the crowd. Anyway, Jiang Xiucai had said before that he would ask his bookboys to check the rankings of him and Zhang Xiucai.

Xiao Yu was relatively calm. Anyway, he believed that it was inevitable that he would win the lottery this time. The only difference was whether he won the prize or not. Zhang Xiucai and Jiang Xiucai became a little restless. They kept pacing, standing at the window and looking into the distance from time to time.

Xiao Yu didn't find this strange. After spending these days together, he had a pretty good idea of ​​the situation between the two of them. This was not the first time for either of them to take the provincial examination, especially Zhang Xiucai, who came from a poor family and failed in the examination many times. He was already quite old, and if he failed to pass the examination again, there would be no hope. Although Jiang Xiucai's family is wealthy, he is just an ordinary squire. He is the youngest son in the family. As an old man, he is very favored by his parents. However, the eldest brother above him is mediocre and narrow-minded. He has always been jealous of his favor and his ability to read. , his parents are old, and his eldest brother has almost taken over the family business. He spent a lot of money on his education from his father's school. If he fails to pass the examination again this time, his eldest brother will definitely use this as a raft to drive him away...

At this time, Jiang Xiucai, who was looking anxiously out of the window, suddenly saw his little book boy running towards the restaurant, and shouted in surprise: "It's coming, it's coming!"