Chapter 69

The pickled vegetables and Guangbing were quickly finished by the dorm mates, leaving everyone feeling unsatisfied.

Xiaofatzi Zhu Xiangwen munched on three Guangbing, his face full of envy as he said, "Yanchao, your family really treats you well!"

Lin Yanchao chuckled, picked up the letter from Lin Qianqian, and read it again from the beginning. Even if it wasn't a time of war, a letter from home after two months was worth a thousand pieces of gold!

The neat handwriting, with a hint of coquettishness and concern, conveyed the hope that he would study hard. Lin Yanchao felt as if Lin Qianqian was right in front of him, nagging from one to five.

Damn, I'm actually a bit homesick. My uncle who fears his wife, my third uncle who loves to calculate, my confident cousin, and my grandfather who has just taken office—how impressive he must be.

Lin Yanchao placed the letter under his pillow and lay down.

After a while, perhaps stimulated by the Guangbing, Zhu Xiangwen suddenly thought of home and started crying.

"Mom, I'm so miserable here, do you know?"

"I want to go home! I want to go home!"

Here we go again, everyone shook their heads. This little fatty would have such a fit every few days. Who doesn't miss home? No one bothered to console him, and they all turned off the lights to sleep.

Seeing the little fatty still crying, Lin Biqing couldn't help but shout at him, and the little fatty dared not cry anymore, wiping his tears in bed.

Beside him, Huang Biyou couldn't help but comfort him, "Endure the hardship, and you will become a man of distinction!"

This was just a small episode.

The next morning, Zhu Xiangwen was back to his carefree self, laughing and joking with everyone.

There was a mix of rain and snow in the air, and the wind brought a cold chill. Even wrapped in blankets, everyone could feel the cold. No one wanted to get up, but they had to, moving slowly.

Yu Qingzhou called out from outside the dormitory, holding an umbrella, "Yanchao, hurry up, let's go together!"

"Sure thing!" Lin Yanchao quickly put on the winter clothes Lin Qianqian had given him.

Yu Ziyu, standing beside him, said jealously, "You two have been pretty good lately, haven't you?"

Yu Qingzhou and Lin Yanchao both chuckled and walked out with the umbrella.

"Brother Yu, Brother Lin, wait for me, let's go together!" Zhu Xiangwen also joined them, trotting along.

Two days later, the second monthly exam arrived. This time, Lin Yanchao had memorized all the passages from "The Great and Small Questions of the Four Books" related to the Analects, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean.

There was a sense of accomplishment, but only a little.

This monthly exam was still five hours long, or two and a half periods.

The time remained the same, but the number of questions increased.

The number of literary questions increased from three to five. The time for five questions was very tight. In the first session of the provincial exam, there were only seven questions and one five-character eight-rhyme poem. Of course, the academy's intention was to train the students to manage their time, to adapt to the difficulties of future imperial exams.

The volume was quite large, so the outer dormitory students all looked at the questions with their tongues out, not daring to think too long, and started to draft on their scratch paper. Most of the time in exams was spent on breaking down the questions. At this moment, whoever could break down the questions quickly and accurately would have an advantage.

Lin Yanchao saw that the first four questions were all ordinary major and minor questions, which he had memorized. As for the last question, it was exactly the type of question Lin Liao had been lecturing on for the past few days.

The type of question that couldn't be guessed, with countless combinations, was not too obscure. There were no questions where the upper sentence was from the Four Books and the lower sentence was from the Five Classics, which would be as difficult as "The moon shines bright before my bed, and the petty man is always worried."

After getting the questions, Lin Yanchao thought about how to answer them. He couldn't copy everything; he had to do one or two questions himself, otherwise, it wouldn't be a good practice. Yes, he would choose the most confident question from the four and answer it himself, and for the other three, he would copy the model answers.

Lin Yanchao was full of confidence. He looked around, and all his classmates were in a state of dejection, some almost biting their pens to pieces, looking very bitter. Only a few students, like Ye Xianggao and Yu Ziyu, were writing furiously.

Ha, such a contrast and衬托 (support) in the exam made him feel good.

Lin Yanchao didn't start by copying the memorized answers but chose the most confident literary question and began to work on it while his mind was still clear at the beginning of the exam.

Even so, it took him almost an hour to finish the article. Lin Yanchao wiped his sweat, thinking that if he spent so long on his best article, how much longer would it take for the others? If it were a real exam, even if he could answer all the questions, the time would not be enough.

For the next three questions, Lin Yanchao didn't hesitate, and the model answers naturally came to mind. He wrote them down without stopping.

Indeed, the speed of copying was much faster than writing the answers himself. The first question he answered took an hour, but these three questions only took an hour.

Lin Yanchao looked around, and some of his classmates were just starting to copy their answers from the draft paper. Lin Yanchao couldn't help but think that this way, there wouldn't be enough time.

Lin Yanchao shook his head and started the last question, the截搭题 (combined question). This kind of question could kill countless brain cells.

After the morning exam, everyone had lunch, and a variety of human emotions were displayed.

However, there were more complaints this time, with many saying that the exam had too many questions, and some had missed one or two questions.

The little fatty Zhu Xiangwen was wiping his tears, and the dorm mates were trying to console him.

"Don't be sad, everyone did poorly, and the questions weren't finished," Yu Qingzhou consoled.

"I'm in trouble. I definitely won't be in the top ten this time, and my parents will be very disappointed," Zhu Xiangwen cried.

"Next time, there's always a chance!" Huang Biyou consoled.

"I'm so stupid. No matter how I study, I'm still the same. Sometimes my brain is so confused that I can't even read the books," Zhu Xiangwen continued to cry.

"Then eat, eat until you're full," Lin Shibing said, losing his patience.

"You eat, I won't eat."

Lin Yanchao said, "Brother Zhu, we understand your feelings. If you want to cry, go ahead, but you won't be able to eat your favorite oyster omelet, or the vermicelli with tofu, which is so chewy after being cooked in broth..."

Zhu Xiangwen lifted his head, his chubby face still wet with tears, and said, "Brother Lin, I'll eat first, and then cry later!"

"That's right, eat until you're full, then you'll have the strength to cry!"

Zhu Xiangwen nodded and pulled the food box over. Everyone felt relieved and gave Lin Yanchao a thumbs up.

After lunch, the results were posted, and the crowd gathered.

Lin Yanchao didn't push into the crowd but sat in the study room to look at the papers. Soon, Yu Qingzhou ran in and said, "Brother Yanchao, you got third place this time!"

All the classmates looked at Lin Yanchao in disbelief.

"Third place! I know," Lin Yanchao continued reading.

"Why are you so calm? Did you guess the questions right again?" Huang Biyou asked.

"More or less," Lin Yanchao replied.

Lin Yanchao was once again under scrutiny.

But this time, no one was in a hurry. Some people compared the questions on Lin Yanchao's paper with those in the text.

After comparing the five questions, everyone concluded that Lin Yanchao had fully copied two questions, heavily referenced one, written one himself, and the last combined question, which couldn't be copied.

Everyone was stunned. In other words, Lin Yanchao had guessed two questions right, half of one, and missed one, and the last one couldn't be guessed.

"Guessing two and a half questions right, what kind of luck is that?"

"Really, what a stroke of luck, he guessed it again."

Compared to the previous behind-the-scenes discussions, this time, everyone was familiar with Lin Yanchao and directly asked, "Yanchao, what's the secret to guessing questions?"

"Yanchao, do you sneak a peek at the exam questions when you go to the lecturer's office?"

"Brother Yanchao, please share your secret with us!"

"Please give us some advice!"

"Please don't be stingy!"

Lin Yanchao patiently explained, "There's no secret, only memorization. Everyone, the path to knowledge is through diligence, and the sea of learning is crossed with hard work. Let's all strive together!"

"Tsk!"

Everyone whistled.

Shortly after, the斋夫 (dorm attendant) posted the rankings of the outer dormitory students, and Lin Yanchao's results were still good.

Ye Xianggao had been first in both the monthly and bi-weekly exams, making him the undisputed top student in the outer dormitory. Yu Ziyu and Lin Yanchao had each taken second and third place in the two monthly exams. However, in the bi-weekly exams, Lin Yanchao did not perform as well as Yu Ziyu, so Yu Ziyu was temporarily second, and Lin Yanchao was third.

So, all three had a chance to be promoted to the middle dormitory after the quarterly exam.

"Congratulations, Brother Lin, you always have such good luck." As soon as the rankings were posted, Yu Ziyu congratulated Lin Yanchao.

Lin Yanchao pretended not to understand the sarcasm in Yu Ziyu's words and smiled, "Not at all, I'm far from matching Brother Yu!"

Yu Ziyu smiled insincerely, "For a new student in the outer dormitory, to achieve this score is quite impressive. As a classmate and dorm mate, I'm genuinely happy for you."

"I didn't do well on the combined question today. It was my first time, and I lacked experience. I hope Brother Yu can give me more guidance in the future!" Lin Yanchao said humbly.

"Is that so? Brother Lin, if you had experience and did well on the combined question, would you have been second in the outer dormitory this time, not me?" Yu Ziyu said with a cold laugh.

Lin Yanchao spread his hands, "Brother Yu, you're overthinking it."

Yu Ziyu laughed lightly, "Brother Lin, how about we have a gentleman's competition to enter the middle dormitory this time?"

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