Chapter 42: Year-End Exam, First Place

Chapter 42: Year-End Exam, First Place

Early the next morning, when Ning Xishi arrived at the gates of the Imperial Academy, he felt like a lost lamb wandering into a den of thieves.

This feeling hit its peak when he stepped into the classroom and discovered everyone was taking an exam.

Ning Xishi: Who am I? Where am I? Is it too late to just go home?

The master was surprised to see him, but even more pleased that the student was finally willing to learn. He stroked his beard and smiled: "It's impressive that you'd come to take the exam after taking half a year off. I assume you know what this exam covers and what's at stake, which is why you've come specifically to take it?"

Ning Xishi really wanted to shake his head, but the master clearly didn't give him that chance. He then had someone bring over a desk.

He even handed Ning Xishi a stack of exam papers himself.

Ning Xishi: "..."

Qi Huairui was up front scratching his head, pretending to be hard at work on his paper, and took the opportunity to turn back and shoot him a look that said, "Dude, are you out of your mind? Showing up to take an exam now?"

Ning Xishi looked away, not saying a word.

Luckily, the books his older brother had given him were thorough and detailed. He'd even worried Ning Xishi wouldn't know where to begin, so he'd arranged the books in a clear order.

Ning Xishi had stayed up late studying last night, and the first book was the Thousand Character Classic, which he had studied in his childhood.

This one Ning Xishi knew well—it was no trouble at all, especially with his brother's notes in the margins. As he read, he actually found himself getting into it.

These notes weren't just simple explanations; they pulled from all kinds of sources. One note even said, "Volume seventeen of the Doctrine of the Mean has a passage that matches this meaning." Ning Xishi immediately had Dongshuang grab the book his brother had labeled 'Seventeen,' flip to the page mentioned in the note, and read them side by side.

Of course, it was cold, and even with the heated floors, Ning Xishi felt that anywhere outside the covers was freezing.

So he studied from bed.

Dongshuang, seeing that his young master was actually studying for real, was thrilled. He set up a long-burning lamp nearby, brightening the whole area by the window.

Maybe because the setup was cozy and Ning Lanzhi's notes were well-written, Ning Xishi actually got absorbed.

By the time he snapped out of it, it was almost midnight.

Ning Xishi quickly blew out the lamp and went to sleep, deciding to head to the academy the next day to study.

Now, staring at this stack of exam papers, Ning Xishi's head throbbed. Unlike the imperial exams, the front sections were mostly fill-in-the-blank, testing memorization.

Ning Xishi did have a good memory, just as Ning Lanzhi had said. Before, he'd just scribble garbage on his papers, but this time, actually trying, he found he could answer three out of ten memorization questions!

Not much, but for Second Young Master Ning, that was a real accomplishment.

The essay questions at the back, though—he really couldn't do those. He had no literary depth, his writing was hollow.

But for a few questions, Ning Xishi figured he could use sentences his brother had annotated yesterday, so he jotted them down.

When he flipped to the last question, worth the most points, Ning Xishi froze. Wasn't this the exact sentence his brother had used yesterday to connect the Thousand Character Classic to the Doctrine of the Mean?

He quickly read the question prompt. For the first time, Ning Xishi found he wasn't staring blankly at a question—he could actually think it through and come up with an answer!

Ning Xishi didn't realize this yet—he just felt like he could answer the question, so he added a bit of water and re-inked his brush.

Meanwhile, the master noticed someone whispering and walked down the aisles, ruler in hand. When he reached Ning Xishi's desk, he saw he was actually answering seriously, so he stopped behind him and watched.

At a glance, the young man looked elegant and sharp, head tilted slightly, eyes fixed on his paper, lips pressed tight, back ramrod straight. He held his brush and wrote, sunlight spilling over him from the side, like a celestial being come down to earth.

The words flowing from his brush were right on target, even showing his own original thinking.

One look told the master that Ning Xishi had actually studied on his own.

Any teacher would be thrilled to see a student who'd turned things around. The master's mood clearly lifted. When he walked past Qi Huairui and the others, he didn't even smack them with his ruler—just gave them a warning look and went back to the front.

Qi Huairui had expected to get whacked, but he dodged it this time. He was totally shocked, but he knew better than to push his luck and didn't dare cause more trouble.

Ning Xishi finished writing and felt like he'd rediscovered the feeling of taking the college entrance exam in his past life—after all, he'd just finished the gaokao before transmigrating. Back then, he'd only wished he could've transmigrated sooner, having wasted three years prepping for that hellish exam.

Now that he was in the groove, he flipped back to the earlier questions where he'd only written a few lines, thought for a moment, and added a bit more.

When Ning Xishi felt he truly had nothing left to write, he calmly stood up and turned in his paper.

Most of the students in this class were useless rich kids. Normally, out of respect for the master's authority, even if they couldn't write much, they didn't dare turn in early.

Now that Ning Xishi had set the example, everyone got up and turned in their papers one by one.

And so, just about everyone who turned in their paper saw Ning Xishi's final answer, filled to the brim.

Everyone else: "..."

Wait, dude? You're actually serious?

Is it too late to get our blank papers back?

The master clearly wasn't giving them that chance. He casually flipped through a few of their papers and called out their names: "Stay after."

"..." Qi Huairui—who'd just been warned by the master—wasn't among them for now. He narrowly escaped, quickly copied the questions a few times at the bottom, then turned in his paper and chased after Ning Xishi.

He hadn't seen Ning Xishi in ages, and Qi Huairui missed him like crazy.

"You went back to Shaozhou—why rush back in the dead of winter?" The two walked toward the academy dorms, and Qi Huairui casually slung an arm around Ning Xishi's shoulder.

"That's a long story." Ning Xishi said something completely useless in as few words as possible, then clamped his mouth shut again.

Qi Huairui knew his buddy was in a tough spot now, not in control of his own situation, so he didn't push further. "So why'd you come to take the exam today?"

"If I'd known it was an exam, would I have shown up?" It was all because he hadn't studied in so long, and he'd never come to school during this winter period, so he had no clue this was happening.

Qi Huairui laughed mercilessly: "Well, if you knew this exam isn't just an exam—they're also re-dividing the classes based on the results—you'd know you came at just the right time."

"Re-divide classes? Aren't all our papers zeros? How would they even split us up?"

"I heard that's not how it works. Apparently someone up top made the call, deciding they won't let us deadbeats keep coasting."

Ning Xishi was surprised: "Does it have anything to do with our scores?"

"Of course it does. They're saying the top few from each class get grouped together, the next ten to twenty into another, and so on—completely reshuffling everything." Qi Huairui sighed. "Our class will definitely be the hardest to rank. We're all brothers in misery, stuck together."

Ning Xishi suddenly remembered something Old Fourth Ming had said—"There are Japanese pirates in the Imperial Academy."

He hadn't breathed a word of this to anyone, not even Xie Jingxing. First, he wasn't sure if it was true—what if the guy was just using that to trick him into going to Ningzhou to become the Martial Arts Alliance Leader? Second, spreading rumors like that would make Xie Jingxing waste time investigating, which would be overkill for something so minor.

After all, the Imperial Academy's system of dividing classes by birth and grades had been in place for at least ten years. Why change the system now—could there really be Japanese pirates?

But Ning Xishi only gave it a passing thought. He didn't have much loyalty to this court; he just figured a stable government meant fewer wars in the world.

But if the court was hell-bent on self-destruction, Ning Xishi couldn't do much about that either.

The two exchanged a few more words and, back in their quarters, caught up on how things had been going for them lately. Qi Huairui mentioned that his mother was setting him up with a potential match.

He got anxious hearing that, insisting he was too young and didn't want to get married.

"My mother said it's just a preliminary look, get engaged first, and discuss the wedding later," Qi Huairui said with a look of total defeat. "But once it's on the calendar, there's no stopping it."

Ning Xishi didn't expect Qi Huairui to get so deep about it. Yeah, that's how it goes—you think something's a long way off, but time never waits for anyone.

Before you know it, time just slips right through your fingers.

Take him, for example—not long ago he was saying marriage would be the death of him, and now he'd been doing just fine for over half a year.

Ning Xishi thought for a moment, then said, "Since it's on the schedule now, you shouldn't keep messing around either. I plan to study seriously from now on. Depending on how things look, I'll probably sign up for the county exam next February."

Qi Huairui: "?"

"Wait, bro, the county exam—also called the boy scholar exam—I've heard a bunch of smart little kids take it. If they pass and we don't, wouldn't that be a total embarrassment?"

Ning Xishi: "Then we just pass it too."

Qi Huairui was even more confused, springing up from the bed like a fish: "Like it's that easy to pass just 'cause we say so?"

·

The day before New Year's Eve, the Imperial Academy posted the year-end exam results. Qi Huairui stared at the words "First in Class D" under Ning Xishi's name, totally lost in thought.

"Bro, Brother Ning, you..."

Ning Xishi, meanwhile, was checking the new class assignment chart posted next to the results.

Besides two people from their old class, he didn't recognize a single name. And the names all looked totally normal—nothing like those Japanese pirate names.

"Wow, first in Class D and still not even as good as last place in Class A."

"Ning Xishi... that name sounds familiar. Isn't he that young master the girls all fancy?"

"Not anymore—he's the General's Lady now. Pretty impressive."

"So he's in the same class as you?"

"How could we compare to the General's Lady?"

"But he got first in Class D. That score wouldn't mean much in Class A, but it's decent for Class B. He's got to have some brains."

"Who knows if that score is even real?"

Noisy chatter buzzed around him. Ning Xishi didn't want to make a fuss at first, but remembering he had to go to the palace banquet that night—with who knew what traps waiting for him—his mood was already bad, and now people were badmouthing him on top of it. He turned around coolly, the golden bell on his vine-wrapped hand warmer letting out a crisp ring.

The crowd that had been murmuring fell instantly silent at the sight of Young Master Ning, who radiated nobility just by standing there.

Ning Xishi pointed at a few of them: "Are you questioning the authenticity of how the Imperial Academy's instructors grade papers?"