I feel so good after dressing up as a peasant girl - Chapter 377 The Examination Begins

Gu Wenhai and others also heard about the assassination of the emperor and his family at the Little New Year's Palace Banquet. Bai Jingzhou and Gu Wenxuan both stayed indoors, so they naturally had to follow suit to avoid being implicated by accident.

It was not until the eighth day of February, the day before the imperial examination, that Bai Jingzhou and others ended their extreme avoidance behavior that had lasted for more than a month.

After checking their exam baskets and counting the necessities they needed to bring into the examination room, such as thick clothes, fried rice, pancakes, dried meat, etc., everyone adjusted their mindsets and went to bed early.

The next day, Gu Wenxuan got up early.

When she returned to the third courtyard from the front yard, Bai Jingzhou had already gotten up and started to tidy up the bedding.

Xiaoxiao, who was sleeping in her sprawling state, was not woken up. Bai Jingzhou kissed his daughter on the forehead, then turned around and smiled at Gu Wenxuan who walked in quietly.

Gu Wenxuan asked him with her mouth, "Aren't you going to sleep for a while?"

Bai Jingzhou shook his head, walked to her side and whispered, "I can't sleep."

After the two men finished washing, people in the front yard and the second courtyard also got up one after another. The servants brought hot water for the scholars waiting for the exam to wash.

Fang Youfu and others were not so particular. They just fetched some water from the well and washed their faces and brushed their teeth without being afraid of the cold.

The breakfast that Gu Wenxuan asked the kitchen to prepare was not soy milk, fried dough sticks, steamed buns, or porridge, because Bai Jingzhou and his friends would only have six meals at home in the next nine days, and Gu Wenxuan planned to use these six meals to supplement their nutrition.

For breakfast today, the cooks prepared Kung Pao Chicken, Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs, Tofu Stuffed with Meat, Stir-fried Lean Meat with Carrots, Black Fungus and Mushrooms, Scrambled Eggs with Shrimp, Pork Belly and Cabbage Stewed with Vermicelli, Shredded Potatoes with Vinegar, Cold Lotus Root, and Kelp and Bone Soup according to the menu that Gu Wenxuan had prepared long ago.

After the scholars had eaten and drunk their fill, Fang Youfu and his brothers personally drove the carriage to take them to the examination hall to wait for inspection and admission.

It was still dark when they went out, but there were already many pedestrians, carriages, and sedan chairs on the road.

Gu Wenxuan knew that these people were basically either candidates or officials, or family members of candidates like her.

After slowly but smoothly escorting Bai Jingzhou and the others to their destination and watching them pass the inspection and enter the examination room, Gu Wenxuan returned to their residence with the Fang brothers.

This was the lesson they learned from the incident where Su Yunzhan and others got sick after being caught in the rain. At the beginning, it was Su Yunzhan and others who insisted on coming out until the end of the first exam. If their physical bodies were not so good, they would have fallen ill early and been carried out, while none of their relatives and servants were there, and their illness would most likely have been delayed.

Anyway, it wouldn't be too tiring to wait outside the examination room, so Yang Wandong and others simply arranged a shift on their own initiative, and every day two people would wait outside the examination room at all times.

Gu Wenxuan originally wanted to arrange people to guard outside, and now that they took the initiative to propose to do so, Gu Wenxuan simply waved her hand and asked Wu Erniang to give each of them two taels of silver as a hard work fee.

Yang Wandong and others were overjoyed to get this unexpected fortune. After reporting to their masters, the other servants happily accepted the money. Like Yang Wandong and Zheng Yongping, they asked Wu Erniang to thank Gu Wenxuan on their behalf.

It was not until the imperial examination was completely declared over that Bai Jingzhou and others were picked up by Gu Wenxuan and others, exhausted. Only then did Gu Wenxuan breathe a sigh of relief without leaving a trace.

No matter how everyone's results were, at least none of them suffered because of the weather or the location of the examination room, which was lucky enough for them.

As for whether you can pass the exam, it would be best if you can. If not, then try again in three years.

Anyway, they are all juren and have both status and wealth, so there is no need to worry too much about the imperial examination.

Although it is not a small number, it cannot be compared with the admission scale of the previous special examinations.

After the examination, Bai Jingzhou and his companions remained indoors. This time they were not trying to avoid disaster, but were making a final push for the palace examination with the prerequisite of passing the examination.

When the two families were exchanging New Year gifts, Mu Hanzhi privately gave Bai Jingzhou a lot of information related to state affairs. Although they were not confidential documents, they were also precious information that was difficult for out-of-town candidates like Bai Jingzhou to obtain.

Bai Jingzhou was a cautious person. After getting the information, he first read it from beginning to end and confirmed that there was indeed no inappropriate content. Only then did he copy the information and give it to others to study and discuss.

Early in the morning, Bai Jingzhou and Gu Wenxuan brought a large group of people from their family to the reserved private room in the teahouse.

Regardless of what others thought, for Bai Jingzhou, who was highly appreciated by the emperor, the imperial examination was the last hurdle in his journey to become an official.

Because he knew very well that with his previous contributions to farming, the emperor would definitely give him a place as a Jinshi as long as he did not lose his mind and write nonsense during the palace examination.

Therefore, whether he was on the list of candidates in this imperial examination became the determining factor in whether he could pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi at the age of twenty-one.

After a lot of effort, the list was posted. Several scholars stood up and looked down from the windows. Only then did the air in the private room begin to flow to other places other than Gu Wenxuan and Xiaoxiao.

Bai Jingzhou and others who were eager to know the results were a little uneasy this time. After a lot of effort, the crowd of people who were crying or laughing in front of the list gradually dispersed. They immediately hurried downstairs under the escort of Fang Youfu and others.