The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 310 Strange Questions
The entire audience was stunned...

Yue Wenxuan was very satisfied with the result. Were you scared? Hahahaha! When I first heard this "Crazy Swimming Pool Manager" question, I was completely dumbfounded. I jumped up at least two meters high and cursed the teacher who set the question as a lunatic. Hehehe, now it's my turn to trick you guys.

A group of scholars and students were seen deep in thought.

The Yan family member from Yizhou was the first to pick up a pen and start writing and drawing on the paper, looking as if he had already thought of something and was beginning to do calculations.

The other students were terrified. Oh no, how could someone surnamed Yan solve such a problem?
If we can't make it, wouldn't we be doomed?
The scholars were going crazy...

Even more frantic than them were the family members watching.

The head of the Ji family was jumping up and down, his face full of anxiety. His eldest son, Ji Menghan, was now the Minister of Personnel, which had paved the way for the family. If his second son did even a little better in the exam this time, with his elder brother's help, he would definitely be able to climb to a high position. However, just by looking at his second son's expression from afar, he knew that he was doomed.

He had absolutely no clue about this problem and was completely dumbfounded.

If this happens, the second son will definitely fail the exam.

The head of the Ji family pounded his chest with his hand and groaned, "It's over, it's over."

Just when things were getting really bad, I suddenly heard someone next to me scream in a similar state of agony: "It's over, it's over, it's all over."

He turned his head and saw Ma Banzhou, the head of the Ma family, who also had a dark face and cried out, "It's over, my nephew definitely can't do it. He's covered in sweat, it seems he didn't even understand the question."

The head of the Ji family: "Ah? So even yours won't work?"

Ma Banzhou rolled his eyes: "Why did you have to say 'also'?"

At this moment, even Qi Chongli, who was sitting next to Yue Wenxuan, looked anxious. There were quite a few members of the Qi family among the candidates. Three of the Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) were surnamed Qi. Qi Chongli originally thought that the Qi family was very secure this time. With three members becoming Jinshi, it shouldn't be difficult for another one to become the Zhuangyuan (top scholar in the imperial examinations).

But when he looked over, he saw that all three members of the Qi family were pale and dazed. Clearly, the question had completely stumped them.

Qi Chongli glanced again at the Yan family members who were writing furiously and thought: It's over, the Yan family will take the top scholar title this time.

Among the many candidates who stood there dumbfounded, only one member of the Yan family was seen wielding a calligraphy brush, writing with great confidence.

After a short while, the Yan family members were the first to stand up and hand over their exam papers to Yue Wenxuan.

Everyone around held their breath, watching in stunned silence...

Yue Wenxuan picked it up and looked at it. Huh? What the heck? I gave this person a math problem, and they wrote a whole essay about it.

Upon closer inspection, Yan's writing is a treatise on national finance. He states that the national treasury is like a pool, with expenditures as the outlet and taxes as the inflow. If it takes forty incense sticks' worth of time to empty the pool for expenditures, but only twenty to fill it, it indicates that the nation's income exceeds its expenditures, signifying a healthy state… To manage a nation well, we need to strive to increase revenue and reduce expenditures, practicing both increasing revenue and cutting costs to ensure a full treasury. As for methods to increase revenue and cut costs, I have the following suggestions…

What follows are his various political views, which Yue Wenxuan didn't have time to read in detail, so let's skip the details.

Qi Chongli, glancing sideways at the article, couldn't help but gasp: "That Yan girl is truly remarkable! Even I couldn't understand the Emperor's strange question, yet Yan is so clever, able to analyze it from such a profound angle. The writing is beautiful, and the insights are unique. In my opinion, this article deserves full marks."

However, Yue Wenxuan did not say anything after reading the test paper. He simply put the test paper aside and continued to wait for other students to hand in their papers.

Time ticked away...

Other students began to hand in their papers one after another, but most students waited until the end of the allotted time before finally submitting their papers.

After handing in their papers, most of the candidates looked terrible, as if they had lost all hope. They stood dejectedly to one side, not daring to meet Yue Wenxuan's eyes.

Yue Wenxuan picked up a test paper and took a closer look. Just like Yan Shi, it contained a bunch of haphazardly written opinions. It was a Chinese language question, not a math question.

Pick up another test paper, oh dear, this one is blank. Pick up another one, huh? This one has a drawing: a bamboo forest in the mountains, a pond in the forest, and a bamboo pipe pouring water into the pond. It's quite a painting.

……

After quickly reviewing hundreds of exam papers, I found them to be a complete mess, with all sorts of creative and varied answers.

Yue Wenxuan was looking at the exam paper, but everyone else was watching his expression.

I wanted to glean from his expression while grading the papers which person answered better.

However, to everyone's disappointment!

When Yue Wenxuan looked at each exam paper, his expression was one of "tch, just blindly answering questions."

Until he put down the last exam paper, everyone thought: It seems that only Yan, who handed in his paper early, will get a good score.

Yue Wenxuan smiled and said, "Alright, now I'll announce the exam results."

Everyone's hearts jumped into their throats.

Yue Wenxuan said, "First, let's announce the paper with the lowest score... Hmm... Zhang Sanlang from Huang County... submitted a blank paper, 0 points."

Zhang Sanlang, standing in the crowd, turned ashen-faced and collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Yue Wenxuan: "Next, we'll announce the paper with the highest score..."

He paused here, drawing out the last syllable.

Everyone's eyes widened in surprise. This was the imperial examination, and the one with the highest score would be the top scholar.

The entire room was completely silent; hardly anyone could even breathe.

Yue Wenxuan: "The one with the highest score is Yan Chengping from Yizhou..."

Everyone: "Oh dear!"

This result was not at all unexpected for them.

However, Yue Wenxuan's next words surprised everyone: "Yan Chengping's answer was irrelevant... 0 points."

Yan Chengping, who was originally overjoyed, froze and turned to stone.

Everyone was shocked. The highest score was also zero? Did that mean all the candidates got zero? My God!

Yue Wenxuan: "Given that all candidates scored zero, no one passed the palace examination. The top three scholars will be selected based on their scores in the previous examination. That's it. The rest will be arranged by Prime Minister Qi and Minister Ji."

Everyone: "!!!"

Yan Chengping's petrified state instantly dissipated: "Haha, the top scholar title is still mine."

At this moment, Yue Wenxuan turned his gaze to the onlookers and smiled, saying, "None of this year's Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) can answer my question. So let me ask the onlookers: is there anyone who can solve this question? If so, feel free to step forward and answer it. You will not be punished if you answer incorrectly, and you will be richly rewarded if you answer correctly."

(End of this chapter)