Longevity from Liao Zhai

Chapter 138 I still have an exam

When Meng Jiusheng heard a few lines of the poem "Quiet Night Thoughts", his expression immediately changed.

"Only some dirty people can write this kind of doggerel." Meng Jiusheng snorted coldly, showing great disdain for the poem.

The cultivators of the human race are divided into upper three grades and lower three grades. The lower three grades are the tenth grade, the ninth grade, and the eighth grade. The upper three grades are the third grade, the second grade, and the first grade.

Once humans reach the third level, they will have an additional three to four hundred years of lifespan.

Meng Jiusheng is already a third-grade cultivator, and he has lived for two hundred years.

Meng Jiusheng is a famous scholar in Wei Dynasty, and he has many poetry collections. Although his style is not as profound as Fan Shiyi's, it is not dry doggerel either.

Meng Jiusheng had heard of this poem a long time ago. When he first heard it, he thought it was just a doggerel poem, nothing special at all.

Later, Meng Jiusheng heard about the "deep meaning" of this poem.

The moonlight in front of the window is not the moon’s light, but a naked girl named Mingyue. Meng Jiusheng didn’t like this poem in the first place, and he disliked it even more after knowing the source of this poem.

Magistrate Lu immediately said, "I also think this poem is not good."

Chen Chao said: "Meng Ru, that is the dirty person you mentioned."

Meng Jiusheng followed Chen Chao's gaze and saw a young man, no more than seventeen or eighteen years old, with sharp features.

"He looks okay, a decent man. How could he write such obscene poems?" Meng Jiusheng had a bad impression of Zhou Ping because of Quiet Night Thoughts.

Chen Chao snorted coldly: "In this world, anyone wants to take the Tongsheng exam now."

Every year, candidates for the Tongsheng examination range from children aged seven or eight to elderly people in their fifties and sixties.

Many people came here hoping to try their luck, but Chen Chao never expected that an escort would actually come here to try his luck.

Meng Jiusheng said nothing more. He didn't have any feelings towards those people from Qinghe County who took the Tongsheng examination. After all, he was already two hundred years old.

Soon, the examination room was full of people.

Zhou Ping looked around. There were children aged seven or eight, elderly people in their fifties and sixties, and people of his age.

Of course Zhou Ping saw three examiners, one was Lu County Magistrate, one was Chen Chao, and the other was someone Zhou Ping did not know.

According to Fan Shiyi, the people sitting in the middle were all from the Dawei Academy, and they were there to supervise and grade the exam papers. Meng Jiusheng was responsible for selecting ten students from among hundreds of people.

Zhou Ping looked at Meng Jiusheng, and Meng Jiusheng also looked at Zhou Ping. For some reason, Zhou Ping could see a hint of disgust in Meng Jiusheng's eyes.

Zhou Ping: I don't know this person, why does he dislike me? Is it because I am too handsome?

"Okay, the auspicious time has arrived!" County Magistrate Lu looked at the time and cleared his throat.

Hundreds of students, who had been shouting and screaming just now, immediately quieted down after hearing Magistrate Lu's voice.

"Next, let me introduce Meng Daru, the invigilator of this Tongsheng exam from the Dawei Academy."

"Meng Daru is a Confucian scholar of the third rank, and he is already two hundred years old!"

After County Magistrate Lu finished speaking, his eyes were full of envy. Who doesn't want to live for a hundred years?
But for most practitioners, if they do not reach the third level, they will die in their sixties.

"Third rank, third rank! It's actually third rank."

"Oh my god, I thought I wouldn't have much of a chance and didn't even want to come, but who would have thought I'd see the legendary third rank."

"Third rank beings are all like gods!"

The candidates were chattering and excited, and some who couldn't see Meng Jiusheng stood up.

Meng Jiusheng held his head high and chest puffed out, looking dignified.

Zhou Ping was also surprised. He didn't expect Meng Jiusheng to be a third-grade cultivator.

Fan Shiyi was only a Confucian of the fourth rank, but the man in front of him was actually a third rank and had lived for two hundred years.

"Two hundred years. This man actually lived for two hundred years." Zhou Ping couldn't help but look at his panel. On the panel, his life span was fifty-eight years.

Meng Jiusheng held his head high and chest puffed out, without any emotion, as if he had long been accustomed to such scenes. In the past two hundred years, Meng Jiusheng had seen everything and was no longer surprised by honor or disgrace.

However, Meng Jiusheng's eyes accidentally caught sight of Zhou Ping. Zhou Ping was not as excited as the others. Instead, he seemed indifferent, as if he was used to it.

This made Meng Jiusheng even more disgusted with Zhou Ping. Good boy, everyone is looking at me, but you are the only one who is calm.

"Everyone, be quiet. Everyone, be quiet." County Magistrate Lu shouted several times, until Wang Cheng brought people to the examination hall, and the candidates calmed down.

County Magistrate Lu bowed his head and said respectfully, "Meng Ru, please give us the questions."

Meng Jiusheng nodded, and then took out a scroll. The scroll was of ordinary size, emitting a milky white light.

County Magistrate Lu took out a seal from his bosom and moved it closer to the scroll. The scroll felt the seal and then slowly spread out.

The scroll changed from its normal size to more than ten feet long, and then floated in the air. All the candidates could see the words on the scroll.

Zhou Ping heard from Fan Shiyi that the examination for students of the Wei Dynasty was uniformly set by the Wei Academy, which then made the examination into scrolls and sent them to the academies in each county. The academies then brought the scrolls to the counties.

The scroll has magic cast by Fan Zhongfu on it, and ordinary people cannot break it at all. It can only be opened with the official seal of the county magistrate.

Zhou Ping couldn't help but sigh that this anti-theft technology was much more advanced than in his previous life.

Not only is the anti-theft technology advanced, but the scroll is directly transformed into a large screen floating in the air for all candidates to see.

Zhou Ping looked at the questions on the scroll.

There are two questions in total.

The first question is to write a poem about the scenery on the river at night.

The second question is a policy paper about "attracting the people of the world, gathering the goods of the world, trading and returning, and everyone getting what they deserve."

Zhou Ping was a little confused. He could understand the first question, but he couldn't understand the second question at all. Although he knew the meaning of the words, he couldn't understand them when they were put together.

Outside the examination room, there were many people gathered, all of whom were the candidates' family members.

One of the carriages was parked on the side of the road, and in the carriage were He Yunqing, Liu Ruyan and Fan Shiyi.

Xiaobai crawled into Liu Ruyan's chest and fell asleep, saying "Zhou Ping, Zhou Ping" over and over again.

Xiaoqing also turned into a human form, and the four of them were playing mahjong.

A huge scroll floated in the air, and the font on it was so large that it could be seen even outside the examination room.

Fan Shiyi drew the cards while looking at the questions on the scroll.

"Fan Shiyi, play your cards quickly." Xiaoqing urged. Since learning bridge, Xiaoqing has become addicted. Fan Shiyi said "Oh" and randomly played a card, but immediately exclaimed: "Oh no!"

Xiaoqing quickly protected the cards with her hands: "If you make a mistake, you can't regret it."

Fan Shiyi looked at the questions on the scroll and shook his head, saying, "It's not that I got the wrong card, but I was so busy teaching Zhou Ping calligraphy these days that I forgot to teach him classical Chinese."

Fan Shiyi did not teach Zhou Ping how to write poetry. Although she asked Zhou Ping if he could write poetry, Zhou Ping always said no, but Zhou Ping could write good poems.

So Fan Shiyi did not waste time teaching Zhou Ping how to write poetry. Her focus was on teaching Zhou Ping how to practice calligraphy.

But Fan Shiyi suddenly remembered that the essay questions were all written in classical Chinese. Zhou Ping had never shown that he knew classical Chinese.

"I didn't explain classical Chinese to him, so he probably won't understand the second question," Fan Shiyi said in annoyance.

He Yunqing said, "In the imperial examination, writing poems accounts for 80% of the score, and policy essays only account for 20%. Maybe Zhou Ping can write good poems, so he can pass the exam even if he doesn't write policy essays."

Fan Shiyi shook his head: "It's possible what you said, there are similar cases where someone can pass the imperial examination just by relying on poems, but in that case, the poems must be extremely good!"

Fan Shiyi sighed. She felt that there was a high probability that Zhou Ping would not pass the examination to become a Tongsheng.

However, Fan Shiyi had already made up his mind that even if Zhou Ping failed the examination to become a student, Fan Shiyi would say good things about him in front of his father and let Zhou Ping enter the academy.

Zhou Ping is such an interesting person, Fan Shiyi wants to get to know him better. Zhou Ping is also a bodyguard, and his martial arts skills are also very strong. Fan Shiyi wants to recruit Zhou Ping to be his bodyguard.

In this way, when she travels around in the future, she will have Xiaoqing on her left and Zhou Ping on her right, bodyguards, and someone to accompany her in writing poetry. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Zhou Ping looked at the second question with a confused look on his face. He couldn't understand these dozen words at all. It was like taking the college entrance examination and suddenly realizing that the teacher forgot to explain a certain knowledge point.

When Zhou Ping saw the second question, he felt disappointed, as if he had just finished an exam and found out that he had made a big mistake.

Zhou Ping twisted his body, feeling that he had no hope and wanted to leave immediately.

Not only Zhou Ping had this idea, but others also had it. As the question appeared, two or three people immediately decided not to take the exam.

These people cursed and then left the examination room.

The Tongsheng examination starts two hours in advance, but there is no restriction on people leaving, so those who want to give up the exam can leave early.

At this time, Chen Chao looked at Zhou Ping's expression and guessed what Zhou Ping was worried about.

"Zhou Ping, even if you can write doggerel, the topic of the policy essay is in classical Chinese, I'm afraid you can't understand it." Chen Chao sneered, feeling very relieved.

He had no grudge against Zhou Ping, but Chen Chao was abandoned by Fan Shiyi twice because of Zhou Ping, which made Chen Chao unhappy and even jealous of Zhou Ping.

Chen Chao never understood what was so good about Zhou Ping that made Fan Shiyi pay so much attention to him. Not only Fan Shiyi, but Mingyue also favored Zhou Ping.

What's so good about a small escort?
While Chen Chao was thinking, Zhou Ping had already started writing.

Soon, Zhou Ping stopped writing and looked at the second question on the scroll with a frown.

Zhou Ping had already finished the first question. He had just copied a poem from the Three Hundred Tang Poems.

Chen Chao sneered in his heart: "You finished writing the doggerel so quickly, Zhou Ping. This is not the Jiaofang Bureau. You can't win Miss Mingyue's appreciation by writing her name in the poem. Even if you write Meng Daru's name in the poem, it still won't work."

Chen Chao believed that Zhou Ping wrote a doggerel in a very short time.

On this side, Zhou Ping finished writing the poem and then kept staring at the second question.

Although he couldn't understand the second question, Zhou Ping came up with a good idea.

Although this idea may seem like cheating, copying poems is already cheating, so just cheat to the end.

Zhou Ping closed his eyes and entered his storage space, then took out boxes one by one and began to flip through books.

Zhou Ping was ready to learn and apply what he had learned, to see if there were any of these sentences in these books. He remembered that there were many books in Li Shen's storage space, and many of them were questions he had guessed for the imperial examination, as well as articles he had prepared in advance.

If he could find a similar one, Zhou Ping might be able to borrow it and use it.

Chen Chao saw Zhou Ping close his eyes, and the sneer in his eyes became even more intense: "You can't write it yet, but you still don't leave, are you waiting for a miracle to happen here?"

Just as Chen Chao was thinking this, he saw an old man with triangular eyes coming to Magistrate Lu under the guidance of Wang Cheng.

Wu Laosan was also a little surprised to see Meng Jiusheng. As a celebrity in Qianzhou City, Wu Laosan had also seen him.

Meng Jiusheng had also met Wu Laosan. When Wu Laosan was young, he also studied under Meng Jiusheng, but Wu Laosan was not really good at reading and writing poetry.

"Hello, teacher." Wu Laosan said politely.

Meng Jiusheng waved his hand: "Xiao San, what are you doing here?"

There was anxiety in Wu Laosan's eyes. He told Meng Jiusheng and County Magistrate Lu the whole story.

Wu Laosan wanted Wu Dage and Yue Yunfeng to enter the secret realm to rescue people, but Wu Dage suggested that Zhou Ping should go in as a bodyguard.

Wu Laosan knew that Zhou Ping was unwilling to take risks, so he came to invite him personally. Even if Zhou Ping was unwilling, he was ready to kidnap Zhou Ping.

However, when Wu Laosan arrived at the escort agency, he was told by Uncle Lame that Zhou Ping was taking the exam, so he hurried to the examination hall.

When County Magistrate Lu heard what Wu Laosan said, his face changed. He was too familiar with Zhao Tiancheng.

Magistrate Lu's father was a legal advisor to Magistrate Zhao, so Magistrate Lu often met Zhao Tiancheng and followed Zhao Tiancheng to visit prostitutes. The two became very familiar with each other.

County Magistrate Lu's face changed slightly, not only because he was very familiar with Zhao Tiancheng, but more importantly, Zhao Tiancheng had an accident on his own territory.

County Magistrate Lu knew that this family was narrow-minded and vindictive. If Zhao Tiancheng died here, County Magistrate Lu would definitely not have a good ending.

Not only will he no longer be able to serve as a county magistrate, he might even be buried with his father.

Meng Jiusheng's expression changed slightly, but he didn't say much. He had also been to the secret realm, but he didn't expect it to be so dangerous.

Zhao Tiancheng brought so many people with him, but he was still trapped in the secret realm.

"Are you saying that you want to invite escorts to enter the secret realm?" County Magistrate Lu stood up immediately, "I will let all the escorts from the Yan Family enter the secret realm now."

County Magistrate Lu could no longer sit still when he thought about the rage he would bear if Zhao Tiancheng died in the secret realm. He wanted to immediately arrange for the Yan Family Escort Agency to go to the secret realm.

Wu Laosan grabbed County Magistrate Lu and said in a low voice, "It's not the Yan Family Escort Agency, but a man named Zhou Ping. I heard that he is in the examination room now, and I want him to come with me now."

It took Wu Laosan less than ten hours to rush over from the secret realm. He was afraid that Zhao Tiancheng would die in the secret realm, so he rode as fast as he could without stopping for a moment.

County Magistrate Lu had a question in his mind. Zhou Ping? Why Zhou Ping?

Although he was puzzled, County Magistrate Lu did not dare to ask more questions. He brought Wu Lao San to Zhou Ping and said, "Zhou Ping, go to the secret realm and save people."

Zhou Ping opened his eyes, a little confused: "I still have to take the exam."

(End of this chapter)