Over the past five days, everyone had been cautiously waiting, guarding against the dirty tricks of the Magistrate of Xieyang County while also worrying about Xu Mo's exam results.
Only Jiang Sheng was blindly confident, arrogantly strutting around like a little wild chicken, just short of making a sign saying "My big brother is super awesome" and holding it up when she went out every day.
Whenever he saw his little sister act this way, Xu Mo would rub his nose.
He felt uneasy. What if he didn't do well on the exam? How would they deal with that?
On the day the results were posted, the brothers were all on tenterhooks, hardly sleeping well the night before.
Early in the morning, Jiang Sheng was still fast asleep, but they rushed to the notice board at the entrance of the government service examination compound, standing on tiptoe to look through the list of successful examinees.
In the Great Yu dynasty, the civil service examination process consisted of the county, prefectural, academy, township, provincial, and palace examinations.
After passing the county and prefectural exams, one would become a tongsheng student candidate. Only after passing the academy exam would one be considered a xiucai scholar.
And only after obtaining xiucai status could one qualify to take part in the township, provincial, and palace examinations.
The county exam served as the first screening test. Although thousands might sign up to take the exam across the whole county, only around fifty people would actually qualify to go on to the prefectural exam.
Relying on their strong physiques, Zheng Ruqian and Fang Heng squeezed their way to the front of the crowd, standing on tiptoe and craning their necks to look at the notice.
They started from the bottom, looking up toward the middle, but didn't see Xu Mo's name anywhere. The two felt a hint of joy.
Continuing to scan forward from the middle, his name still didn't appear.
Xu Mo's name wasn't on the successful candidate list at all.
Zheng Ruqian's first reaction was to curse the Magistrate of Xieyang County. "That old crook must have meddled with the results. My big brother worked so hard, how could he possibly have failed?"
They had thought Xu Mo might not rank near the top, but were certain he would pass the exam.
If he didn't, then someone must have sabotaged him.
Fang Heng was even more hotheaded, immediately turning to grab a stick. "Let's go beat down the doors of the county government and get an explanation."
Seeing the two older brothers about to take action in unison, the petite Chang Yan, who was squeezed in the crowd until his feet weren't touching the ground, strained to call out, "Second brother... Third brother... Why don't we go back home and take a look first?"
Wen Zhiyun was also being tossed around in the crowd like a bean sprout in a pot, weak and spineless.
Only then did Zheng Ruqian and Fang Heng remember their two younger brothers who hadn't hit their growth spurts. They quickly pulled them out from the crowd.
They returned to Xu Mo's side, not even daring to breathe too loudly for fear of touching on his distress.
Xu Mo was still reasonably composed. He gave his younger brothers a faint smile in an attempt to put their minds at ease.
The five brothers walked from the entrance of the government service exam compound back home.
Just as they reached the intersection in the city center, they saw red paper and firecracker debris scattered on the ground.
"Who's having a celebration?" Zheng Ruqian wondered aloud.
The others didn't respond, continuing forward. Soon they caught sight of Jiang Sheng standing blankly in the doorway of their small courtyard, holding red paper in her hands, bleary-eyed and bewildered.
Xu Mo's steps faltered.
Zheng Ruqian and Fang Heng wore looks of disbelief.
Chang Yan, however, had a slight smile, seeming to understand what was going on.
"Big brother, second brother, third brother, fourth brother, fifth brother," Jiang Sheng called out in one breath, "Where have all of you been?"
Heaven knows she had been sleeping so soundly and sweetly. Suddenly there was loud knocking at the door and she stumbled up groggily to unlatch it. Before she knew what was happening, several people had burst in, calling out congratulations left and right, followed by the popping sounds of firecrackers that left Jiang Sheng frozen in place from fright.
What was going on? Had she dreamed about getting married off or something?
Fortunately her brothers returned shortly after. Jiang Sheng rushed forward and shoved the red paper at Xu Mo, pointing to several people loitering at the street corner. "It was them."
Zheng Ruqian quickly caught on. He took out a few silver coins and handed them to the group.
Only then did they leave, satisfied.
Xu Mo slowly unfolded the red paper. Written on it in vigorous, bold characters were the three words "Top County Candidate."
For some reason, the exam top scorer in this district hadn't appeared on the successful candidate list posted at the examination compound. Instead the news was delivered directly to his home.
Xu Mo felt a nearly imperceptible sense of relief, closing his then reopening his eyes, which seemed to glisten slightly with moisture.
He hadn't let down his younger siblings who relied on him for support.
Nor had he disappointed his parents' expectations.
Beside him, Zheng Ruqian grinned from ear to ear. "This is great. With you as the top county candidate, that old crook won't dare make trouble recklessly anymore."
Although the county exam was just the first step to becoming a tongsheng student candidate, there were still the prefectural, academy, township, and other exams ahead. But being the top county candidate carried tremendous prestige.
From ancient times until now, not everyone who was ranked first became a xiucai scholar, but almost every top county candidate was guaranteed to become a xiucai master.
If one's circumstances were sufficient, even becoming a juren degree holder and entering the civil service was not impossible.
Just looking at how on the very night Xu Mo obtained this top county candidate honor, several tutors had come calling from the academy he was attending made this clear.
"Good lad, I always thought you were exceptional, but I never imagined you were this outstanding," said the young tutor in charge of collecting fees at the door, who was also the one teaching Xu Mo, delightedly. "With you achieving top county candidate, our academy will also gain prestige because of you."
Xu Mo bent down slightly. "I have Teacher Qian's attentive guidance to thank."
Students who excelled academically were not uncommon, but ones who were both academically exceptional and humbly astute were rare.
Teacher Qian looked at Xu Mo with increasing admiration in his eyes, though his mouth said, "Although you've achieved top county candidate, you mustn't become arrogant. After all, this is just the county exam. You still have to pass through five levels and defeat six generals."
"I came today also to discuss with you the prefectural exam in April. With your performance in the county exam, you should be able to pass it, but if you can spend another two years preparing and directly test as top prefectural candidate, it would benefit you even more."
It was clear the academy cared for him and had arranged this very thoughtfully.
But after considering for a moment, Xu Mo shook his head.
Whether or not he was the top scorer didn't matter to him.
He wanted the status of a xiucai so he wouldn't have to kneel in officials' halls, so the Magistrate of Xieyang wouldn't be able to touch him, so he could protect his younger siblings.
Not just the prefectural exam in April, he also intended to take the academy exam in August.
This was Xu Mo's longing to become stronger.
Teacher Qian could understand to some extent. After all, the incident at the examination compound had been the talk of the town recently. But he still felt more regret. Such a promising sapling, who could have listened to the academy's arrangements and embarked on an even more remarkable official career.
He tried persuading Xu Mo, "Actually, you don't need to worry too much. The academy will definitely protect excellent students like you."
This was practically telling Xu Mo not to fear the Magistrate of Xieyang anymore.
"Will the academy also protect my younger siblings?" Xu Mo raised his head.
Teacher Qian was rendered speechless in that instant.
Xu Mo understood. They would only protect him, not his siblings.
What good was that?
He, Xu Mo, was not the kind of scum who would abandon his family for so-called prospects.
"Teacher doesn't need to persuade me. I will take responsibility for my own future," Xu Mo lowered his eyes. "And I will also protect my own siblings myself."
Teacher Qian heaved a sigh. Suddenly he looked at Xu Mo with new appreciation, "All right. Then prepare for the prefectural exam in April."
"The academy will still provide as much help as we can." He said this last part in a lowered voice.
At first Xu Mo thought it was because the academy valued talent.
But on the next day, the top-ranked academy in the county, also the one Jiang Sheng had looked into but they'd had to give up on due to the prohibitive six taels per year tuition, sent over two tutors.
Their overt and covert meanings were that they felt Xu Mo would be unable to receive a better education at his current academy. They wanted to poach the top county candidate over to them.
It was in this moment that the Xu brothers and sister truly recognized the power of education.
Or to put it another way, no matter the field, as long as one reached an extreme level of excellence and stood at the peak, one would become a highly sought-after talent.
Just a top county candidate, and the county's academies were falling over each other to recruit him.
What about being the top prefectural or academy candidate then?
Xu Mo heaved a long sigh. The book in his hand suddenly felt scorching hot, bringing heat to his body, flesh, and soul, letting his spirit soar and dance across the nine heavens.
When his soul settled back into place for an instant, Xu Mo lowered his head and declined the invitations from all the academies.
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