Chapter 282

Zhao Yuan had not passed the imperial examinations yet and was only a xiucai (a successful candidate in the imperial examination at the county level). He was not involved with the imperial examinations. However, he came to the Imperial Examination Hall repeatedly, purely for Xu Mo, or rather, for his firm belief.

It is said that simple-hearted people have simple thoughts. Zhao Yuan stubbornly believed that Xu Mo could place first in the provincial examinations, or at least become a gong sheng (an outstanding candidate in the provincial examinations), and be ranked in the top few.

He came over to check the rankings with the same excitement and conviction as Jiang Sheng, but from start to finish, he did not even see the character “Xu”, and was dumbfounded for half a day. Finally, he could not help but cry out, "Why, why did Brother Xu fail the examinations when he is clearly first-ranked material?"

All the top examination candidates turned their heads to look over.

Someone could not help saying, "That's because others have true talents and knowledge, those without ability have failed."

"Bullshit," Zhao Yuan said angrily, "Brother Xu is the one with true talents and knowledge, it's impossible for Brother Xu to fail, absolutely impossible."

Seeing that the two were about to get into a fight, Qi Huai and An Jun hurriedly rushed over to pull the bristling Zhao Yuan out of the crowd.

"Don't stop me, he said Brother Xu has no ability, that's pure bullshit, I want to punch him," Zhao Yuan said through gritted teeth. "Brother Xu's abilities, don't you guys know?"

An Jun frowned and nodded.

Qi Huai sighed, "Even I barely passed the examinations, so how could Brother Xu have..."

It turned out that Qi Huai and An Jun had both passed the imperial examinations, and Xu Mo was genuinely happy for them.

"That's bullshit... How could Fang Yuan possibly be the top-ranked?" Zhao Yuan said sullenly. "You know how he got the juren degree. If a child of military family can casually pick up the top spot, those of us from civil servant families might as well cut our throats and hang ourselves."

The name Fang...Yuan sounded a little familiar, yet somewhat unfamiliar.

But when it was mentioned he was from a military family, Xu Mo suddenly recalled that his third brother Fang Heng was the son of the Fang military family. So this Fang Yuan must be his battle-hardened cousin.

According to this calculation, the current top-ranked scholar was two years younger than Xu Mo, truly a shocking genius.

"...Shocking genius my ass." Zhao Yuan's voice came in a timely manner. "A thirteen-year old top scholar, do you believe that?"

He looked at Qi Huai, and Qi Huai shook his head. He looked at An Jun again, and An Jun spread his hands cluelessly.

Finally he turned to look at Xu Mo. Zhao Yuan was startled at first, but soon came over grievously, "Brother Xu, you failed the examinations, how could you fail, you are my role model!"

Xu Mo never expected that while he failed the examinations, his brother did not cry, his sister did not cry, but Zhao Yuan cried.

Moreover, he cried loudly.

"Brother Xu, there must be something fishy here, I refuse to accept this - how could you possibly fail the examinations? Even Qi Huai passed." While Zhao Yuan cried, he twisted his handkerchief to wipe his nose. "If it was someone else who got the top rank I wouldn't make a sound, but how could it be Fang Yuan?"

Indeed.

For a child of a military family to give up martial arts and turn to academics, and casually gain the top rank in the examinations, how overbearing was that?

But the credibility of examinations could not be doubted either.

To protect the rights and interests of commoner students and prevent misconduct by influential families, the Dayu Dynasty expressly ordered that real names be covered during the county and provincial examinations for blind review of papers.

However, as each person's handwriting style was different, those more familiar could still recognize them. Thus, there followed zhujuan (vermilion transcripts) and mojuan (ink transcripts).

As the names suggest, the students wrote in ink brushes during the examinations at the Imperial Examination Halls, which were called ink transcripts. They would be uniformly submitted to the chief examiner, and uniformly transcribed by copyists using vermilion brushes, also known as zhujuan.

The chief examiners of the county and provincial examinations determined the rankings based on the anonymized zhujuan, to the greatest extent avoiding bias and protecting talents without status and power, giving them the opportunity to reach for the heavens.

"Perhaps it is because my abilities are lacking, inferior to others," Xu Mo comforted Zhao Yuan, lightly patting his back.

As a result, Zhao Yuan became even more desperate.

"Even you can't pass the provincial examinations, there is no way I can become a jinshi (a successful candidate in the palace examinations) in this life and meet my parents' expectations." He was heartbroken.

Xu Mo was torn between laughter and tears, powerless to help.

Eventually Zhao Yuan managed to calm down. Qi Huai and An Jun looked over meaningfully, wanting to speak yet stopping themselves.

"I have yet to congratulate Brother Qi and Brother An," Xu Mo said with folded hands. "Once you pass the palace examinations, you will be able to fulfill your ambitions."

An Jun was the happiest. With this gongsheng status, his talents had been proven. In the future, he would not need to fear being oppressed by influential families.

Among this group of three friends, only Xu Mo had failed the examinations.

It was somewhat regrettable, yet also inevitable. "It's not right, this is not right!" An Jun muttered in confusion and helplessness.

Qi Huai was relatively calmer as he patted An Jun on the shoulder. "The failed students' papers will be released in ten days, with the chief examiner's comments. We can come back to take a look then."

Xu Mo smiled slightly and nodded.

As more and more students who had come to see the results gathered at the gates of the Imperial Examination Hall, they bid farewell to each other and agreed to return here to read the commentary in ten days.

Influenced by her elder brother, Jiang Sheng also regained her spirit to deal with the incident of customers being stolen.

First, she unhurriedly went to Jiuzhen Fang and stroked the slightly damp chestnuts, "Gao brothers, how long can these chestnuts be stored?"

Zhang Xianglian recalled and said, "They can be kept for two months in a dry and cool place."

The Gao brothers needed one month to transport goods and another month to sell them after bringing them back, which perfectly ensured all candied chestnuts sold were fresh.

Jiang Sheng nodded, then went to the confectionery shop across the street. After confirming their candied chestnuts were also selling like hot cakes, she finally decided, "We'll do nothing."

Zhang Xianglian was surprised. "Little Jiang Sheng, are we really going to just watch as the other side deliberately undercuts prices and steals our business?"

"That’s right," Jiang Sheng said calmly. "Chestnuts can only be kept for two months at most in a dry and cool place. In the summer, they spoil and breed worms in half a month. We have the ice cubes stored in the villa Big Brother bought to prolong storage time, what do they have?"

In the Dayu Dynasty, traveling merchants were everywhere, and goods transported back and forth between places were common. However, most merchants only went to one or two places, transporting durable goods that could be stored for a period of time.

Only Zheng Ruqian had focused on the uniqueness brought by ice cubes. By purchasing an additional villa in the right town to store ice at the most cost effective way, he extended the spoilage time of goods.

Of course the opposing confectionery could also buy ice cubes from all over, but the chestnut cost would probably be more than 25 wen. Could they really sell any goods?

Jiuzhen Fang didn't need to do anything. As the weather grew warmer, the blazing sun higher, their competing business would surely fail.

Soon ten days passed.

The area outside the Imperial Examination Hall was even livelier than before. Students who had failed squeezed together as they looked up in attempt to find their own papers and commentary.

Xu Mo, his younger siblings, and several friends were also searching.

As the chief examiner had reviewed the zhujuan, what was released were also zhujuan. This meant the entire wall was possibly covered in one copyist's writing, making it dazzling to look for anything.

Fortunately, Zhao Yuan soon discovered it. "Here, here! I saw Brother Xu's name!"

Everyone gathered over to carefully read the content. The others were fine at most shaking their heads and sighing. Only Xu Mo grew increasingly somber until his face was ashen.

"This is not..." He clenched his fist tightly as his voice grew hoarse. "This is not my exam paper."