During the remaining days in the examination room, Qin Bai spent all his free time meditating and practicing Qi, and he also gained a lot from Huang Qiongjian's sacrifice.
The provincial examination ended successfully. The expressions on the faces of each examinee were different, and it was possible to see their expectations for their respective results.
The sun was hanging in the mid-air, and the sunlight was a bit dazzling. Qin Bai followed the crowd and walked out of the mansion. Many people could be heard cheering outside.
After not seeing the sun for a long time, his eyes narrowed slightly in discomfort.
Geng Yu's face had long since lost the high spirits. It was not because he did not perform well in the provincial examination. On the contrary, he felt that he performed extremely well this time. It was just that he understood the truth that there are mountains beyond the mountains and there are people beyond the mountains.
He subconsciously looked at Qin Bai who was walking in front of him. Although the other party did a lot of tricks in the examination room, there is no doubt about his strength. This person has the city in his heart and is a great talent.
But Geng Yu didn't know Qin Bai's level. Even if he used the Lu Pen Pen, whether he could win or not was a question.
At this time, some people who had nothing to do had gathered outside. After all, today was the end of the provincial examination and students were leaving, so there were many people watching the excitement.
As Qin Bai walked out of the examination room and took a look around, the crowd outside suddenly decreased by half, and even the originally noisy environment became much quieter.
He waited outside for a while, and then Ning Caichen and Zhang Zizhi walked out of the examination room.
The two people had different expressions. Zhang Zizhi exuded confidence and seemed confident.
Ning Caichen, on the other hand, had his decadence written all over his face. He was like a student who went to answer the questions after the exam and failed to get any of them right.
After the three said goodbye to each other, Qin Bai took Ning Caichen back to the inn.
The fat boss had been waiting for a long time, and all he could think about was hoping that the scholar staying in the inn would be happy. Just by the look on their faces, the two people who came back before knew that there was little hope.
But when he saw Ning Caichen shaking his head, he could only sigh. It seemed that there was no need to count on it. As for Qin Bai, he subconsciously ignored it.
However, the fat boss still prepared a table of food for them to catch the wind and wash away the dust. When it got late, Qin Bai and several scholars who participated in the imperial examination returned to the guest room to rest.
In the Yamen Mansion, Wei Lianzhang was reviewing the test papers overnight. He was not alone, but there were several examiners beside him.
They put aside the test papers that they could pass, and the others with poorer skills directly wrote the word "no" with a brush to express failure.
After working for a long time, the test papers were sorted down to only a few dozen, and the next step was to select the test papers that could win.
These test papers will eventually pass through Wei Lianzhang's hands. If they meet the criteria for passing the examination, the word "pass" will be written on them.
When Wei Lianzhang saw that the examiner had stopped, he counted the successful papers.
After discovering that there were only nineteen copies, he felt a little puzzled. Then he looked through the remaining test papers and found Qin Bai's one among them.
Wei Lianzhang read it carefully and found that Qin Bai's test paper was of a good standard, even in a place with a strong literati atmosphere like Jiangsu and Zhejiang, it was enough to get a title on the gold list.
It's just that many of the questions were answered in a rigid manner. Why do I feel that my personality is completely opposite to mine? Is it possible that the other person is just pretending on the surface, but is actually a reserved person?
Then Wei Lianzhang remembered the scene where Qin Bai ate food cooked with magical utensils in the examination room. Well, maybe he was overthinking it.
But since there was still one test left, he hesitated for a moment, wrote the word "pass" on the test paper, and then put it aside.
When the civil servants saw Wei Lianzhang passing another document, they immediately hesitated to speak.
"If you have something to say, just say it."
The examiners looked at each other in confusion. After a long silence, the older first-year old man walked out. He sighed and said.
"Lord Wei, you don't know. There are strange things happening in Gusu City. Three people have died because of the last names on the gold list."
Wei Lianzhang was stunned for a moment, and he asked Zhou Qi to find the files on these matters from the yamen.
Then he quickly climbed over it, and it was indeed as the other party said, it was full of weirdness.
"Fetch County Magistrate Xu for me."
Under Wei Lianzhang's order, Magistrate Xu walked in quickly, sweating profusely. He stumbled on the steps and almost dropped the black gauze hat on his head.
"What's the matter with Mr. Wei looking for a subordinate?"
Wei Lianzhang asked about Juren's suicide for no reason, and the sweat on Magistrate Xu's face fell like raindrops.
"Master Wei, it has only been two years since Xiaguan took office, and the previous magistrate of Gusu County has already passed away..."
Wei Lianzhang's face darkened and he slapped the table with his palm: "What nonsense are you talking about? Tell me everything you know."
Magistrate Xu spoke with a grimace.
At that time, the county magistrate of Gusu City, faced with the tragic death of his entire family, did not choose to react to his superiors. Instead, he found a relatively well-known Taoist priest to handle the matter.
Juren's body was in a very strange death state, with a broken brush stuck in his head. He was so resentful that his eyes could not be closed.
The Taoist priests initially chose to use fire to burn it into ashes, but no matter what kind of dry wood they used, as long as it was ignited, it would be extinguished inexplicably.
There was no other way, so I had to seal it with a charm and bury it in the ground. But it was an emergency and I couldn't find a suitable coffin, so I buried it hastily.
But after the burial, the sound coming from the coffin seemed to include shouting, as if the person was not dead at all.
In this case, no one opened the coffin. Instead, they nailed the coffin tightly and buried it.
What's even more strange is that the Taoist priest left Gusu City overnight, only to be found dead in a dry well more than ten miles away a few days later.
From then on, the candidates at the end of each rural examination committed suicide, and the bodies were buried according to the previous method. After all, no strange things happened after the burial, and the county magistrate at that time did not dare to change rashly.
Then, the corpses from the mass graves were dug out not long ago, and the three coffins containing the corpses were empty.
Among them, the bones were later found nearby, but they were smashed into pulp by heavy objects. It is unknown who did it.
Wei Lianzhang was speechless for a long time. When he heard the heavy object being hit, his first reaction was Qin Bai. According to Zhou Qi's investigation, this man did sometimes carry a hammer. Could it be that the other party did it conveniently.
But since the bones had been burned to ashes, he didn't think much about it and just asked: "What are the names of these three people?"
"The person who was elected three years ago was Zhu Erdan, the person who was elected six years ago was Fan Jin, and nine years ago... he seemed to be called Wang Qiming, but after the scientific examination, he changed his name and announced that he was... Lu Pian."
After Magistrate Xu finished speaking, he fell to the ground and gasped. He was at least derelict in his duties and there was no need to think about his career.
Wei Lianzhang didn't reply. He pinched his temples. His mind was a little confused, and he spoke after a long time.
"That's it. Since you have passed twenty test papers, you can't return them."
He suddenly felt guilty, and the next step was to determine the list of those who passed the test, because Qin Bai was a candidate on the test paper, and his level was not outstanding, so logically he would be ranked at the bottom.
Wei Lianzhang lost his mood, and he unknowingly tricked the other party.
All he could do was ask Zhou Qi to make a trip to give the other party a heads up, but this person was not just trying to get to the bottom of the imperial examination...
