Chapter 453 - 174: Prefectural School (5)
Chapter 453: Chapter 174: Prefectural School (5)
Wang Jun and De’an were right.
Having been so thoroughly humiliated, Yin Xichen was bound to find a way to get even once he collected himself.
As an instructor at the prefecture academy, making things difficult for a student was all too easy for him.
And a perfect opportunity presented itself.
That being the entrance examination.
New students entering the prefecture academy all had to go through the process of being tested and assigned to a hall.
Although Zhao Jing and De’an had been admitted smoothly, which hall they would be assigned to would be determined by an exam to gauge their abilities.
The prefecture academy was divided into a total of eight halls.
Unlike typical academies that used the "Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow" ranking system to differentiate student levels, the eight halls of the Xinghuai Prefecture Academy were named: Xiaocheng, Youzao, Cunxin, Shouye, Guanshan, Jindao, Bowen, and Yueli.
Just by looking at the names of the halls, one could get a rough idea of the level of the students in each.
Xiaocheng was taken from the *Ritual Records*, where it means "minor accomplishment." It signified that students in this hall had reached a certain level in their knowledge, virtue, and relationships. They could be recommended for official appointment and had an eighty to ninety percent chance of succeeding in the Provincial Examination.
Youzao was taken from the *Classic of Poetry*, where it means "to have achieved or accomplished something of note."
The students of Xiaocheng Hall were considered a level above those in Youzao Hall. The students in the other six halls were a level below Youzao Hall, with little significant difference in skill among them.
Typically, newly enrolled students were mostly assigned to these latter six halls.
Only after several years of study at the academy, after passing multiple examinations and receiving high evaluations, would they be considered for promotion to Youzao Hall, or even Xiaocheng Hall.
The difficulty of the entrance examination for new students—whether the questions were hard or easy—depended entirely on the skill and temperament of the instructor who wrote them.
For example, since Mr. Sun was in charge of managing, disciplining, and providing daily instruction for this year’s newly recruited students, he was the one who wrote the entrance examination.
Mr. Sun was clever, humorous, and compassionate, so he wrote a simple exam. Not only did all the new students pass with ease, but they also received high scores.
Normally, Mr. Sun should have been the one to write this exam as well—in fact, he wouldn’t even have needed to write a new one. The papers were already prepared; he could have simply reused a set from a previous assessment.
However, someone was intent on revenge and snatched the task for himself.
The one intent on revenge was Yin Xichen.
Word of that day’s incident had somehow gotten out. Yin Xichen was taunted by several instructors he was on bad terms with, and unable to save face, he decided to take it out on Zhao Jing.
He not only wrote the exam questions but also insisted on proctoring it, making a show of taking his revenge openly. This move drew the attention of everyone in the prefecture academy.
Many people called him "disgraceful for his age" and "a bully picking on the weak," but others simply watched from the sidelines, making callous remarks.
’Isn’t that Zhao Jing a Triple First Scholar? His literary skills have been highly praised not only by the Lord Prefect but also by many of our own instructors at the academy. This is a perfect chance to test his mettle, to see if his abilities are real and just how skilled he truly is.’
Under the watchful eyes of many, the entrance examination specially prepared for Zhao Jing and De’an began.
The time for the exam was approaching, but the proctor had not yet entered. Inside an empty study in Minglun Hall, only Zhao Jing and De’an were present, seated at opposite ends of the room.
Zhao Jing was calm and composed, his mind at peace. De’an, on the other hand, was fidgeting restlessly, like a not-quite-evolved monkey.
"Jing, you’ve really doomed me this time... Jing, are the techniques you taught me actually going to work?... That old bastard Yin Xichen, he’s so malicious... If I fail, I’ll be humiliated in front of the entire academy. I’ll never be able to show my face again..."
Zhao Jing heard him muttering like he was chanting a sutra and couldn’t help but shoot him a look. "Just do what I taught you, and you’ll have no problem passing the exam. Calm down and stop overthinking it. This is just a small test. If you can’t even handle this level of harassment, how do you expect to take the Provincial Examination or the Imperial Examination in the future?"
"My, my. You’ve only just entered the academy, haven’t even attended two days of class, and you’re already thinking about the Provincial and Imperial Examinations? How ambitious! Let’s just see if your scholarship matches that ambition of yours."
The one speaking in that passive-aggressive tone was, of course, Yin Xichen.
Yin Xichen was wearing an instructor’s uniform he had scrounged up from who-knows-where. The uniform was a bit too large, hanging loosely on his frame. Paired with the still-visible bruises on his face, he should have looked ridiculous.