The Marquis' Wife
Hsien-shih Testing

On the day H arrived, Lu Xiang and the other students woke up early and got ready to take the exam held in the morning.

He has been accustomed to cold showers for the past two months in order to survive the exam room which only provided a blanket that is not thin or not thick. Lu Xiang heard a lot that many died of cold when taking the exam because it could not stand the cold weather and the exam room did not have a heater like charcoal, although his body thanks to the help of lotus well water from Adelia, but he did not want to bet his health in the test later.

The examinees are not only young men and adult men who are still excellent but also grandfathers who are over 50 years old because they want a bachelor's degree because they still have not passed and are still determined to take the exam.

Many stubborn participants survive in the exam room to pass the exam because the examinee must not leave the room until the end of the exam even though he has completed the question if he does not want to qualify. It happened a lot in the city exam because of the number of participants who took the exam.

Although with such terrible conditions, many register the test for the respect and fame that will be obtained when passing the exam.

In fact, many students who will take the exam try to simulate the exam environment such as getting used to wearing thin clothes or taking cold showers to get used to cold weather or taking fever-preventing medications before entering the exam to avoid this condition.

"There are a few things that you should pay attention to before entering the examination room, you should check your belongings while queuing up to prevent the intentions of the bad guys who want to thwart your exam, you should check out, do not drink a lot of water because people who go to the toilet will be marked test paper".

"And most importantly, answer easier questions first to take advantage of time, do not be rash and keep yourself from getting cold. Do you guys understand?".

"Understand teacher Juren Zhao". The students answered simultaneously.

Zhao Fan nodded in satisfaction and let go of his students to take the exam.

Lu Xiang queued for up to half an hour in the cold before her name was called, lucky Adelia prepared a high-quality cotton student dress that could keep the body warm for her so that the cold weather had no effect on her.

"Miao Village, Lu Xiang!"

Lu Xiang stepped forward and went to the east gate according to the rules while carrying a bamboo basket containing writing utensils such as brushes, ink and inkstone and two steamed buns and water in bamboo are as big as a glass and there should be no other items. That was explained at the exam registration a few months ago.

The exam security guards took out a bamboo basket and checked to make sure that nothing other than the item had been announced then had Lu Xiang take off his jacket and underwear and examine his entire body before telling him to go to the side and start checking jackets and shirts if there are hidden pockets to hide cheat sheets or other answer papers.

"Yongle Village, Sun Shan found a piece of paper in a steamed bun!" The loud sound of the report made Lu Xiang and the other participants stunned even some of them became panicked.

Lu Xiang saw two officers dragging a man caught carrying a cheat in steamed buns making several students of similar intentions pale and their bodies tremble in fear, yet they persevered and stayed in line, hoping that getting lucky and escaping the examination but that was not the case at all.

Some people were also dragged away by security personnel without regard for their apologies and apologies.

Lu Xiang's attention was diverted as the officer returned his jacket and shirt had been checked, he put his shirt back on before following the attendant into the examination hall. He entered a large test room with a small room that was blocked but did not have doors and checked the test number he got, lucky he got a front room far from the toilet.

Lu Xiang checked the bamboo basket handed over by the officer and found that the steamed bun had been torn by the officer during the inspection.

During the day, officers distributed soup and warm drinking water before the exam began. The participants bowed respectfully to the mayor present before entering into their respective examination rooms.

"Smaller than I thought" Lu Xiang muttered looking at the examination room which only had an area of 1x2 meters. There was only a small table in the room to answer.

Officers gave blankets and answer papers and scribbles for drafts before answering to answer papers because there should be no typos or scribbles that are not answers in them.

Lu Xiang filled in the name, the village where he came from and his exam number was 203 and waited for questions on the paper affixed to the wood and carried by the officer who walked back and forth.

Lu Xiang copied two essay questions about four classics and one poem with six verses, the answer being no more than 600 words.

At night, the, Lu Xiang took out the torn steamed bread he had stored in his underwear so as not to harden from the cold and ate it before working on the final essay and making sure nothing was wrong before copying his answer on the reply paper before going to bed, keep wearing a jacket because the blanket he made as a mattress.

In the morning, Lu Xiang checked back the answer while waiting for the exam time to end, handed it to the attendant and walked out together with the other participants.

"Death to me, I can't answer essay number two".

"My poetry looks so stiff, will the mayor accept it?"

Various complaints and complaints sounded in Lu Xiang's ears, some of them running to the inn to urinate that had been detained from yesterday, as well as Chen Xirang.

"I won't order any more soup" he muttered as he paid his respects to Lu Xiang.

Lu Xiang returned to the inn and cleaned himself up before going back to sleep to replace the sleep time interrupted by the sound of snoring or the sound of a table being kicked involuntarily due to how cramped the exam room was.

In the afternoon Lu Xiang along with his group looked at the exam number that passed the next session.

"I graduated!" Chen Xirang shouted in excitement .

"I also graduated". Miao Sheng, Shao Yunan and Zhang Yunlei also passed the first session.

"How about you Lu Xiang?".

"I also graduated". Lu Xiang smiled slightly. The five people breathed a sigh of relief and smiled happily but they did not celebrate and chose to go home to prepare for the next session exam.

The next day, Lu Xiang went through a routine like yesterday, checked before entering the hall and receiving a warm soup before starting the test in their respective cubicles. The second session and the third session are the essays of the holy book of enlightenment which has 3000 words, mayor Qincheng provided the keywords and the examinee had to write a paragraph from the holy book of enlightenment based on keywords and explanations as well as one poem with 5 sentences and 6 rhymes.

Lu Xiang's group also managed to pass the final exam session but many voices of complaint were heard as the fourth session question was paraded around by the officers.

"Be quiet, you'll be in qualifying if you make a fuss".

The last test question is a matter of complicated arithmetic, in contrast to modern mathematics arithmetic answer must be explained in words until just writing the results of the number of answers, so complicated because the problem is in the form of psychotes.

Lu Xiang thought for a moment after filling out the name, place of origin and number of the exam and started explaining the answers on the scribbled paper, he was lucky to learn mathematics from Adelia who was younger to learn so that he could answer the problems on the wooden board.

The next day the students came out with pale faces and muttered like crazy for not being able to answer or doubt their answers.

"I answered wrongly about number three! What if I don't pass" Chen Xirang shook Lu Xiang's body.

"Calm down. You're making me dizzy" Lu Xiang pushed away his friend, the brain that was forced to think for 8 days was making him dizzy.

"Lu Xiang's. Can you answer that?" Chen Xirang did not care about his tangled clothes and stared expectantly at his friend nor was he able to answer.

Lu Xiang felt guilty and annoyed at that hopeful look. "I can answer that".

"Oh my God, I'm finished!!" Shouted Chen Xirang.