Chapter 5: The Prefectural Examination

At the end of March, Old Master Wang from the Wang Estate sent one tael of silver through Mr. Gao.

Including Li Xiaonan, the five Li siblings tested all the various verification methods they had heard of against those ten small silver bits.

This was their first time seeing silver.

Biting on a silver bit, Li Xiaonan felt immensely puzzled: why was the silver here so beautiful, so noble, and so dazzling?

In the past, she had thrown away large piles of pure silver with many nines in their purity, but those silver bracelets and locks had looked like nothing more than a heap of junk.

Truly, times had changed!

The prefectural examination was set to begin on April 12th.

The number of candidates in the entire Pingjiang Prefecture increased significantly. They were to be tested separately by county. The date for Kunshan County would not be posted until the day before the exam. Depending on the journey, it would take five or six days at the shortest, and perhaps nearly ten days at the longest.

However, April was the time for plowing and sowing, the height of the busy farming season.

Li Jinzhu and Li Yuzhu walked two laps around the field ridges, and after returning to calculate carefully, they decided that Li Jinzhu would accompany Li Xuedong and Li Xiaonan to the exam. Li Yuzhu and Li Yinzhu would stay home. They would take out two more silver bits to rent an ox and a strong laborer from a neighboring village for plowing and harrowing. This way, when it came time for sowing and seedling cultivation later, the two sisters, Li Yuzhu and Li Yinzhu, would be able to manage.

Early on the morning of the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, Li Jinzhu took Li Xuedong and Li Xiaonan and quietly left Xiaolizhuang, following a group of traveling merchants that Mr. Gao had helped find, heading toward Pingjiang Prefecture.

The following afternoon, the three siblings disembarked at Guoxiang Town outside Pingjiang City. After repeatedly thanking the shopkeeper, they hurried toward Pingjiang City.

It was the first time the three siblings had ever left Kunshan County.

From Guoxiang to Pingjiang City, shops, inns, and trading houses appeared one after another along the way. The prosperity and bustle left the Li siblings staring in awe.

Li Xiaonan looked left and right, her eyes overwhelmed by the spectacle; several times, she forgot to keep walking.

*Sigh, this is a very prosperous and quite developed place; the only poor place is my village, my home!*

"A-Nan, don't get distracted. Focus on doing well in the exam first," Li Jinzhu said, pulling Li Xiaonan back whenever she stopped walking, giving her a worried instruction.

"Mm-hmm, I know, I know," Li Xiaonan nodded while staring at a pastry shop, muttering her lessons under her breath.

She had to do well!

Only by passing the exam could the five of them escape from their third uncle's grasp, only then could they survive and leave that small village. Only then could she feel at peace to do something in this world, such as earning a little money.

A *Xiucai* (scholar) held quite a bit of status. The Wanghong family in Kunshan County had only become prominent after the second young master Hong's great-uncle had passed the *Xiucai* exam.

As darkness fell, the three entered Pingjiang City and found a cheap inn to stay in, seven or eight streets away from the prefectural school.

The next morning, Li Xuedong changed into his examination robes and went to report to the prefectural yamen with Li Jinzhu.

For the prefectural exam, one had to take the main formal exam on the first day; the attendance for the other sessions was optional.

The dates for the formal exams in each county had already been posted. Pingjiang City had the most candidates and held its own session. The other five counties were divided into three sessions; Kunshan and Changshu counties were combined into one session on the third day.

The rules for the formal exam were similar to the county exam: candidates entered the grounds before dawn and began the exam at daybreak.

Wearing Li Xuedong's examination robes and carrying the long-eared examination basket provided by Mr. Gao, Li Xiaonan kept track of the time and hurried toward the prefectural school with Li Jinzhu.

After passing two streets, the number of people carrying lanterns to enter the grounds increased.

Li Jinzhu instinctively moved to shield the front side of Li Xiaonan, and Li Xiaonan lowered her head slightly, staying close to Li Jinzhu.

Upon reaching the gates of the prefectural school, Li Xiaonan and Li Jinzhu chose a shaded spot to stand.

After less than fifteen minutes, the gates of the school opened from the inside. Two bailiffs, with solemn expressions, brought out two straw men dressed in red and green, one on each side.

"You..."

"Don't worry, Big Sister, I'm going in," Li Xiaonan interrupted Li Jinzhu, lifting her basket and heading toward the gates.

"Li Xuedong! Over here, over here!" Hong Zhenye, the top candidate of Kunshan County and the second young master of the Hong family, called out while waving his arms.

Under Hong Zhenye's enthusiastic arrangements, the top five candidates formed a group to become acquaintances, with Hong Zhenye's great-uncle, Old Scholar Hong, acting as their guarantor.

With her heart in her throat, Li Xiaonan walked toward Hong Zhenye and the other three.

"We're all here, let's go in!" Hong Zhenye took the lead and headed toward the gates.

After passing the screen wall, Hong Zhenye stood on his tiptoes, stretching his neck to wave and shout toward the inside: "Great-uncle! Great-uncle!"

The clerk in charge of verifying names quickly made way for the five of them.

Hong Zhenye rushed a few steps toward his great-uncle. "Great-uncle, we've arrived! This is Zhao Mohua, this is Qian Xingbang, this is Sun Qingbai, and this is Li Xuedong! I am Hong Zhenye!"

Hong Zhenye introduced them all in one breath to the clerk.

The clerk checked the register, looking at the four individuals one by one besides Hong Zhenye, then turned to look at Hong Zhenye's great-uncle.

Old Scholar Hong was whispering something to the Vice Prefect; he didn't even glance their way, merely waving his hand with a hint of impatience.

"Go in," the clerk said, also waving his hand.

"Let's go!" Hong Zhenye led the way, rushing in to find his seat.

Li Xiaonan breathed a secret sigh of relief.

The hardest hurdle was passed.

The process of the prefectural exam was the same as the county exam. Facing the *Gezhi* (Science/Natural Philosophy) paper, Li Xiaonan did not dare leave it entirely blank as she had during the county exam. After weighing her options, she answered most of the calculation problems, but for the remaining two, she only dared to write two or three sentences.

Keeping an eye on the surrounding activity, Li Xiaonan submitted her paper in the middle of the crowd.

Li Jinzhu did not dare to stay far away, nor did she dare to crowd forward; she stretched her neck, watching with anxious eyes.

As soon as Li Xiaonan stepped over the threshold, Li Jinzhu saw her and rushed straight toward her. Seeing her eldest sister, Li Xiaonan immediately stumbled and threw herself into Li Jinzhu's arms.

"My brother is exhausted!" Li Jinzhu cried out, quickly carrying Li Xiaonan away.

After the final formal exam session ended, the results were posted early the next morning. Li Xuedong was ranked eighteenth.

Li Xiaonan broke into a cold sweat from fright.

This year, Pingjiang Prefecture only had twenty slots to send candidates to the *Yanshi* (Academy Exam). If he had been just a little bit worse, he would have failed!

Of the twenty candidates sent from Kunshan County, the ones who passed the prefectural exam were Li Xuedong and the second young master of the Hong family, Hong Zhenye, who ranked tenth.

Li Jinzhu was so happy she could not contain herself.

Li Xuedong leaned over to look at Li Xiaonan and gave her a wink.

Exhaling her lingering fear, Li Xiaonan also began to smile.

"Shall we head back?" Li Jinzhu looked at Li Xiaonan.

"Mm!" Li Xiaonan nodded.

"Hurry! I see the second young master Hong; it looks like he's looking for someone," Li Xuedong said, a look of alarm appearing on his face.

He was quite afraid of that second young master Hong's fiery enthusiasm.

"Then let's hurry!" Li Xiaonan pulled Li Jinzhu, and the three siblings turned and ran.

There were no more merchant caravans to hitch a ride with on the way back to Kunshan County, so the three siblings walked all the way home on foot.

At noon on the fourth day, the three siblings ate a meal in Kunshan County. Passing through Gaocun Market, they dropped Li Xuedong off at the Gao Family Academy, and Li Xiaonan and Li Jinzhu hurried home.