The format and content of the Qi Kingdom's children's examination were similar to those of the Ming Dynasty in ancient China, but there were also many differences.
The first round of examination was relatively simple, testing the morization of the Four Books and Five Classics, annotations of so passages, and finally requiring a complete eight-legged essay based on a topic from the "Four Books." The eight-legged essay emphasized eight parts: breaking the topic, carrying the topic, beginning the discourse, and so on.
The second round of examination wasn't difficult either, requiring morization of longer classic texts and still testing eight-legged essays, but with increased difficulty in the topics. It combined questions from the Four Books and Five Classics, and finally included several passages from the Four Books and Five Classics, asking for your understanding of these ancient texts without any format restrictions.
Xiao Mo successfully passed the first two examinations and was already a child student.
The third round of examination would be held fifteen days later, and examinees could take a rest.
Xiao Mo thought about it and decided not to return to the village.
He would stay in Qingshan County to review and prepare for the third round.
anwhile, at She Mountain north of Stone Bridge Village.
In the cave, a white snake slowly opened her eyes.
She felt that her vision was blurry, and the things stuck to her body were very uncomfortable.
The white snake rubbed vigorously against the stones beside her.
After expending considerable effort, even scraping off so of her newly grown scales, the white snake finally erged from her shed skin.
"I'm so long..."
Bai Ruxue looked at her body and estimated that she should be about seven feet long now, and much thicker than before.
With a transformation, she took human form.
The young woman ran out of the cave and ca to a pool.
The pool was like a mirror, reflecting the young woman's slender and graceful figure.
"Wow, I'm so tall, and I look so beautiful!"
After turning two circles by the pool, Bai Ruxue's skirt hem fluttered, and she was very satisfied with her current appearance.
"I should be taller than him now, right?"
"Next ti he sees , he'll definitely be startled."
Bai Ruxue felt a faint joy in her heart, her mind already fantasizing about Xiao Mo's surprised expression when he saw her.
She skipped back to the cave. Little Green was still sleeping.
"Little Green will also grow tall when she wakes up~"
Bai Ruxue gently patted Little Green's head, then jumped out of the cave again.
The young woman ca to the small path he would inevitably pass when climbing the mountain, still sitting on that stone beside the path.
She rested her chin on her hand, gazing into the distance, waiting for his return.
One day.
Two days.
Three days, four days...
Bai Ruxue waited and waited, throwing stones one after another.
She didn't know how many stones beside her had been thrown.
She didn't know how many blades of grass around her had been plucked.
She didn't know how many mice that passed by had been eaten but she just hadn't waited for him to return.
"He wouldn't forget , would he?"
"Will he still co back?"
"He will co back!" Bai Ruxue shook her head vigorously, clenched her small fists, and encouraged herself, "He promised, he definitely said he would co back to play with ."
Another ten days passed, and Bai Ruxue still hadn't seen his figure.
"Stinky Xiao Mo, if you don't co find soon, I'll get angry!"
On this day, the young woman said this but Xiao Mo still didn't return.
On the twentieth day of waiting for Xiao Mo, at sunset...
Bai Ruxue stood on the stone, cupped her fair little hands around her mouth, and shouted loudly toward the small path down the mountain, "Stinky Xiao Mo! I'll give you one more chance! If you don't co! I'm really going to get angry!"
On the twenty-first day, the sun set and night gradually covered the entire sky.
The young woman still stood on the stone and shouted, "Xiao Mo, I'll give you one last, last chance. If you don't appear tomorrow, I'm really going to get angry."
On the twenty-second day...
"Xiao Mo, I'm really, really, really angry now, and you can't coax better!"
The young woman's voice echoed through the mountain forest.
On the twenty-third day...
"Xiao Mo! I'll never pay attention to you again!"
On the twenty-fourth day, the twenty-fifth day...
Every day, Bai Ruxue would sit on that stone waiting.
When leaving in the evening, she would always loudly scold Xiao Mo, her shouts echoing through the mountain forest.
"Xiao Mo... where are you?"
On the evening of the twenty-sixth day, night fell across the entire sky. The young woman sat on the stone, her arms wrapped around her knees, burying her head in her thighs.
"Why haven't you co back yet?"
The young woman's crystal tears slowly dampened her dress.
Above the night sky, starlight dotted like the Creator had scattered glowing grains of sand across the entire firmant.
The clear moonlight fell from the sky, outlining a faint halo around the young woman.
The young woman didn't know when she fell asleep.
The young woman also didn't know how many tis she had cursed "stinky Xiao Mo" in her heart but she still waited there, not going anywhere.
He said he would co back...
"Chirp chirp chirp chirp..."
On the morning of the twenty-seventh day, the sky was dyed white again.
The birds in the mountain forest chirped and chattered.
A lizard crawled to the young woman's feet, raised its head to look, but seed to sense so movent and quickly scurried away with a "whoosh."
On that small path, a man's figure appeared.
Xiao Mo walked forward step by step.
He should have returned much earlier from this examination, but the newly appointed county magistrate insisted that the newly successful scholars have dinner and hold various banquets.
How could Xiao Mo dare not give face to this?
As a result, after the exam results were announced, Xiao Mo stayed in Qingshan County for a full six extra days.
"I wonder if she got anxious waiting."
Thinking of the little white snake, Xiao Mo couldn't help but quicken his pace.
When he reached halfway up the mountain, Xiao Mo looked up and saw a young woman sitting on the stone with her knees hugged, her small face buried between her thighs.
The young woman seed to be asleep.
Xiao Mo wasn't sure if it was Ruxue.
Because judging from her figure, this young woman was a grown maiden, not a young girl in her early teens.
Xiao Mo walked forward and called softly, "Miss?"
Hearing the voice, the young woman's shoulders trembled slightly, as if she had awakened.
When she raised her eyes, Xiao Mo couldn't help but be dazed.
The young woman appeared to be about sixteen years old. Her eyes were like spring wind brushing over treetops, blooming like flourishing peach blossoms, with naturally upturned corners that curved like the most charming bend of a peach petal tip.
Her pupils were a clear, moist ink color, but deep within seed to contain pond water.
Her long and thick eyelashes were like butterfly wings, and when they trembled lightly, they cast a small patch of soft shadow beneath her eyes, making her gaze appear even more rippling and bright, carrying the unique clarity and innocence of a young woman.
When her eyes moved, she unconsciously revealed three parts natural charm, yet this was firmly locked by that clear foundation, leaving only soul-stirring liveliness and gentleness.
She looked at the man before her in a daze.
As the young woman saw the man's appearance clearly, her eyes beca increasingly bright.
Only on the young woman's fair cheeks were faint tear tracks, and there was also a touch of red from crying at the corners of her eyes.
"Ruxue?" Xiao Mo asked.
Bai Ruxue's throat moved, wanting to respond but in the end, the young woman turned her head away as if sulking, pouting her small mouth and saying resentfully, "I'm not Bai Ruxue."
"Stinky Xiao Mo, I don't recognize you."
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