Dingchou... Following the decades of experience passed down by Old Great Uncle Carter, William Carter immediately remembered where the Dingchou examination booth was located. That spot was near the Dragon Gate, far from the latrines, and the old, dilapidated booth was directly opposite the Dragon Gate. The Dingchou booth faced north and looked south, so there was no worry about glaring sunlight—truly a good place.

Chapter Twelve: Taking the Exam

Because he drew a good spot, William Carter felt a bit more at ease.

Carrying his exam basket, he arrived at the Dingchou booth. Sure enough, it was exactly as Old Great Uncle Carter had described. Old Great Uncle Carter had also said that there was a large stone near the Dragon Gate, so one should be careful when entering the exam grounds and watch their step. After William Carter sat down in the booth, he saw that moss-covered stone and felt a surge of emotions. Oh, old uncle, after taking exams for half a lifetime, you finally managed to be of some help.

"That's William Carter... that's the one who can't even recite 'The Master said: To learn and at due times to practice what one has learned...' properly..."

"He really came to take the exam..."

William Carter had barely warmed his seat when the nearby booths filled up, and he could hear people chattering and laughing.

William Carter couldn't be bothered with them. He knew that the incident yesterday, when James Carter had made him recite the first chapter, had already become common knowledge, and everyone was using it to make fun of him.

Following Old Great Uncle Carter's advice, William Carter wasn't in a hurry to prepare his brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. The exam would last a whole day. Of course, you could be reckless and hand in your paper early, but William Carter wasn't about to do anything so outrageous. So first, he took out the steamed buns he had prepared in advance—best not to keep them wrapped up too long, or they'd go bad.

Only then did he spread out his writing tools on the desk.

After carefully grinding his ink, an official came holding a placard with the exam topic. When William Carter saw the topic, he was startled.

The Master said... To learn and at due times to practice what one has learned...

What the—it's actually "The Master said: To learn and at due times to practice what one has learned..."!

He felt a wave of frustration, but... he quickly calmed down. It was just a coincidence, and besides, this was a very standard topic, which showed that the county magistrate was a stickler for tradition and wouldn't set any strange or tricky questions to make things difficult.

William Carter closed his eyes, and his mind's "light brain" began to operate at high speed. Soon, the source of the quote appeared in his mind: it was from the Analects—"The Master said: To learn and at due times to practice what one has learned, is this not a pleasure? To have friends come from afar, is this not a joy?"

Then William Carter quickly reviewed Zhu Xi's commentary and interpretation of these words.

The most important step had come. William Carter only skimmed through, then began searching for related essays.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were hundreds of thousands of eight-legged essay exams, and all sorts of topics had been written to death. As for this particular topic, it was a common one. In an instant, William Carter found nearly a hundred essays on it.

Xiong Mianxue, a third-rank Jinshi from the 26th year of the Jiajing reign, wrote an essay on "The Master said: To learn and at due times to practice what one has learned..."—over a thousand words. William Carter only half understood it, but... this guy was just a third-rank Jinshi, out! Next.

Zhang Juzheng, a second-rank Jinshi from the same year.

This one was quite famous, but why only second-rank? Not impressive enough, out!

That year's metropolitan exam happened to use this topic, so there were plenty of essays to browse. In the end, William Carter's gaze settled on the essay by the top scorer, Li Chunfang.

Whether the essay was good or not was another matter, but using the top scorer's essay for a children's exam was like using a cannon to shoot a mosquito. Keep a low profile? To hell with keeping a low profile! After holding back for so long, William Carter was full of pent-up frustration—what's the point of keeping a low profile in an exam?

Having made up his mind, William Carter didn't hesitate and began writing directly, following the essay in his mind.

His running script had already reached a certain level, thanks to frequent practice. This time, it was just a thousand-word essay, and in no time, he was done.

Before coming, Old Great Uncle Carter had advised him to draft the essay first and then copy it neatly onto the answer sheet. But William Carter didn't need a draft—he finished it in one go.

Looking up, he saw that dawn was breaking. When he entered the exam hall, it was still pitch black, but now he could finally see the whole place clearly. William Carter set his exam paper aside, weighed it down with a paperweight to let the ink dry, and began gathering his steamed buns and water—he was hungry.

The steamed buns were hard as rocks and could only be eaten with a bit of water. Having grown up with hardship in the Ye family, he could make do.

At this time, all the other candidates were scratching their heads and racking their brains over the topic. Although it was a common one, with so many people taking the exam, if you didn't write something outstanding, it would be hard to stand out. So quite a few candidates were actually struggling.

A candidate in the booth opposite looked up unintentionally and saw William Carter had just finished off half a steamed bun. Instantly, a thousand grass-mud horses stampeded through his mind: "This guy probably hasn't even started writing, yet he still has the leisure to eat? Is he here to take the exam or to mess around? Oh, right, he's the one who can't even recite 'The Master said: To learn and at due times to practice what one has learned...'—William Carter, who doesn't even understand the exam topic... He must just be here to go through the motions..."