Great Zhou Wensheng

Chapter 15: The Examiners Grading the Papers!

Inside the county school.

"I wonder which young scholar from which household will be the top candidate in this county's civil service examination this year!"

The chief examiner, Cai Chao, and the other examiners were chatting and laughing.

Before Chief Examiner Cai Chao could put down his teacup or finish speaking, a sudden burst of golden light appeared outside the hall.

"Gentlemen, please observe!"

County Magistrate Zhou Wenyuan pointed in the direction of the examination hall.

All the officials present felt a chill run down their spines and looked in the direction of the examination hall.

Suddenly, a burst of dazzling golden light burst forth from one of the examination rooms, like hundreds of rays of light, instantly enveloping several Class A examination rooms in a golden, shimmering light.

The painted colors on the vermilion door frame of the county college's main hall were reflected in the golden light, and even the dragon-shaped beasts crouching on the roof tiles were gilded with a layer of brilliance.

It was impossible to tell at a moment which examination hall was emitting the golden glow.

Even more astonishing was the faint scent of millet wafting in the air—clearly unlike the smell of ordinary grains, but rather like the aroma emanating from millet offered on the altar of a Confucian temple, this fragrance mingling with the scent of ink in the wind.

"This fragrance"

Pei Jingyi twitched his nostrils and his eyebrows twitched slightly.

County Magistrate Li Mo, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them.

The twenty-seven local worthies in plain silk robes standing ten steps outside the main hall couldn't help but look towards the examination hall.

The brightest spot of the golden light—that was clearly the direction of the top-tier examination rooms, covering several examination rooms numbered Jiazi—most likely belonged to the scions of prominent families from Jiangyin County.

Aside from this most intense golden light, the other Jiazi numbers were also alright, either with a faint yellow light, an amber halo, or a milky white light, with gentle colors, and most of them looked quite good.

This made them overjoyed.

Meanwhile, some of the examination rooms emitted black or bluish-gray light, and even emitted a foul, putrid odor, as if rotten millet was fermenting.

Without a doubt, these students in the examination hall were definitely tricked. They failed to unleash the Millet Character Technique, their minds were clouded, and they failed the exam.

This golden light is incredibly intense!

And it came from the "A" grade? Could it be Li Yunxiao's exam paper?

Cai Chao's hand, resting on the chair, trembled slightly, and he secretly rejoiced.

He had hinted to Li Yunxiao the night before that the first question would be about the character "millet." With so much time to prepare, he was sure to achieve excellent results.

The deputy examiners looked at each other, none of them daring to ask what this strange phenomenon was.

"The time has come, go and collect the scrolls!"

Cai Chao glanced at the bronze water clock on the table. The floating arrow at the third quarter of the hour of Wei (1-3 PM) was pointing to the direction of the beginning of the hour of Mao (5-7 AM). He immediately pondered and gave the order.

"Yes!"

"At noon, the ink dried up and could not be refilled!"

"Collect—the—roll—!"

The head constable raised his gong and banged it.

"All students must remain at their seats and have lunch in the examination room. Wait for the examiners to review and grade the papers!"

The instructors and supervisors, along with twenty bailiffs, immediately went to each examination room to collect the sealed examination bags.

Soon, the examination bags of thousands of students were all gathered together in one place.

Inside the bag was an exam paper and a string of millet ears formed from literary talent.

The exam papers were sealed with the names concealed, and the handwriting was required to be regular script. Thousands of papers had identical handwriting, making it impossible to tell whose paper it was.

All the exam papers were distributed to five chief and deputy examiners for grading.

"All millet ears, whether green, black, gray, brown, or of inferior quality, shall be rejected!"

Chief Examiner Cai Chaodao.

If the students' answers to any questions are of an undesirable color, such as green, black, gray, or brown, there's no need to even look at their exam papers; if all the answers are wrong, they'll be disqualified—this could eliminate more than half of the uneducated students.

The remaining millet ears, those of normal color—pale yellow and pale white—were considered acceptable. However, the inferior millet ears had to be removed first, leaving only three hundred files that met the standards.

Then, the case files are scored and ranked, which greatly reduces the workload.

The deputy examiner, Chief Clerk Shen Yanqing, picked out one of the examination bags, removed the seal, and a ray of golden light rose up.

He shook the millet ears out of the bag.
A string of ninety golden millet grains, clustered on the millet stalks, illuminated the county school hall as if it were daytime.

"What grade of millet is this?"

Shen Yanqing's hands trembled slightly as she held the exam paper, her eyes shining brightly.

The scent of ink, mixed with a rich aroma of millet and wheat, and the mellow fragrance of millet wine, suddenly exploded at the tip of his nose, almost choking him.

This very exam paper produced a golden light phenomenon!
Shen Yanqing felt a surge of anticipation. After carefully reviewing the answers on the exam paper, her face flushed with excitement, and she slammed her hand on the table.

In a daze, he seemed to see a millet farmer kneeling before the temple of the God of Millet, begging for rain to quench the thirst of his parched fields. After the autumn harvest, the millet stalks hung low and full. He offered finely brewed millet wine and poured it on divination bones to thank heaven and earth.

"Great!" "What a wonderful saying: 'Its form follows the grain as it scatters, its sound follows the water as it boils and the wine becomes fragrant, its meaning is derived from millet to nourish the people.'"

"Such methods of analyzing and interpreting characters are truly astonishing!"

Upon seeing the first sentence, Shen Yanqing was so shocked that he slammed his hand on the table and stood up.

Upon hearing this, County Magistrate Zhou Wenyuan leaned closer to take a look, and soon his face showed surprise.

Suddenly, some jade-colored birds flew in from outside the hall, chirping and chattering around the roof beams and pillars, staring at the string of golden millet on the table.

The examiners exchanged bewildered glances, eagerly passing the examination paper around. After reading it, the other candidates' answers seemed utterly uninteresting.

"Perfect!"

"This is a perfect score!"

"Shu (黍) can be broken down into three parts: 禾 (hé), 入 (rù), and 水

The entry refers to the bronze vessel "gui," whose shape resembles the character "入" (rù). "入" does not mean entering into water, but rather entering for sacrificial purposes. During sacrifices, millet was placed inside the "gui," transforming into a symbol of literary elegance.

"This [entry] section is brilliantly interpreted!"

This is the first time I've ever seen anyone answer this [entry] section in such a way!

"I can clearly smell in this golden millet the sorrow of the 'millet falling in abundance' from the Book of Songs, the joy of the rice harvest in October, and the mellowness of the spring wine—the epic history of agriculture over countless years of the Great Zhou Dynasty is condensed in this unique fragrance!"

"This is so well written!"

"The answer is flawless!"

"Look at this heavy ear of millet that this person has created with his literary skills. It is a full foot long and truly amazing!"

"This answer sheet is so perfect that even we ourselves could not have done it so perfectly!"

The examiners eagerly passed it around.

"Not bad!"

Cai Chao stroked his beard and smiled, feeling very satisfied.

He guessed that this answer sheet should have been written by Li Yunxiao, the third son of the Li family.

After all, he had given advance notice last night, instructing Li Yunxiao to prepare the character [黍]. With the help of the Li family, and after a night of in-depth study, it was possible to write such a perfect answer.

Other talented individuals from prominent families, given a hasty response, would certainly find it difficult to write such a perfect answer.

"Master Pei, what do you think of this file? Is it worthy of being classified as Grade A, First Place?"

Cai Chao humbly asked Master Pei, "What is the purpose of this inquiry?"

With Master Pei's personal endorsement, he would have ample grounds to refute any accusations that he was secretly aiding Li Yunxiao.

Jia Yi was personally selected by a literary giant in Jiangzhou Prefecture; who would dare to question him?

Pei Jingyi was also amazed. The answer sheet was truly profound and mysterious. Upon hearing this, he couldn't help but chuckle and say, "This is the seed of literature for the nation—Golden Millet!"
If it's not number one in the top tier, who would dare to claim that title?

Not just in Jiangyin County, but throughout the entire Jiangzhou Prefecture, this is the best result ever.

"The nation's cultural heritage?"

"Master, why is this string of golden millet also called the 'seed of civilization for the nation'?"

The officials were all somewhat puzzled.

Seeing that everyone was puzzled, Pei Jingyi smiled and said, "The Zhou Li (Rites of Zhou) says: 'Use the Huang Zhong (Yellow Bell) to measure the length of millet by stacking it to a foot.'"

The grand and majestic sounds of the nation resonate here.

A single millet grain is one fen wide, and a huangzhong (a type of ancient Chinese bell) is one chi long. A bunch of millet ears contains ninety grains, which is exactly equal to one chi of a huangzhong.

This is the standard length of the millet, a precious grain used in the national census.

The standard for measuring the whole world was set by using the golden millet.

The standards of the world originate from the culture and literature of the state; this is the origin of this title!
If any farmer could cultivate such a superior variety of millet in the paddy fields, with each grain as plump as a golden soybean, it would be considered an auspicious grain, worthy of being presented to His Majesty!

"Xiangrui?"

"Unfortunately, this is a seed of state culture condensed from literary talent, which cannot be cultivated in mulberry fields. It can only be used to quickly replenish talent. It is not a true seed of golden millet!"

Upon hearing this, the officials, both high and low, all looked enlightened and revealed expressions of regret.

Auspicious!

That's an astonishing achievement, meaning excellent local governance.

After all, the most important thing for a local official is to achieve political results, and these results should be known to their superiors, preferably by them.

The best way to let superiors, or even His Majesty, see the local government's achievements directly is to have auspicious omens appear in the county.

They had no doubt about Master Pei Jingyi's judgment.

Pei Jingyi, as a member of the Hanlin Academy, had lived in the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty for a long time and frequented the Eastern Palace. Naturally, he was very familiar with the auspicious omens presented to the court by various local governments.

(End of this chapter)