Chapter 125: The Troublesome Apprentice Craftsman Examination (Part One)
Clang clang clang clang clang...
Clang clang clang! Clang clang clang!
Clang clang clang clang...
Wang Gewei tilted her head back, the relentless sounds of hammering iron from the blacksmith exam area to the east pounding against her temples and giving her a headache.
Bang!
The large drum suddenly boomed, the pounding echoing sharply. She took a deep breath, urging herself to stay calm, and stuffed the cloth plugs deeper into her ears.
“Bu Zhi Village, Li... illiterate.” The examinee pounding the drum flushed red in the face, though few nearby were paying attention to him.
“Louder!” The patrol officer’s shout was even louder than the drumbeats.
Bang! From a slightly farther distance, the drum from Xunyi Village’s exam area sounded again, beating at least three times as frequently as Bu Zhi Village, which ranked second to last among the illiterate.
“Xunyi Village... illiterate...”
“Louder!”
“Xun heh heh...”
“Not ashamed, and still have the nerve to laugh? Disqualified and kicked out of the exam area!”
On the west side, separated by a broad city entry road, the rural militia competition exam area was in full swing.
Tap tap tap tap... The rapid clatter of horse hooves stirred up a cloud of dust.
“Shoot! Quick! Turn! Turn! Good!”
The mounted archery drills for the rural militia lasted twelve hours a day! Daytime drills alternated with night exercises. Wang Gewei had been here over a day, and the mounted archery and wrestling grounds never once fell silent!
The wrestling ground lay directly south of the mounted archery field. It was divided into several smaller sparring arenas, each surrounded by throngs of spectators three layers deep, their cheers mixed with jeers, shouting as if today were the end of the world!
Besides the discomfort in her ears, Wang Gewei could feel her face swelling. From the time she arrived at the exam area yesterday until evening today—just fourteen hours—she was not only dizzy from the noise but her eyes and even her nostrils felt swollen from the constant clamor!
In her past and present lives, she rarely cursed, but now she truly wanted to curse out loud: who arranged for the carpenter category and the intricate skill exams to be held right between the rural militia competition and the blacksmith exam? Who was it? Was it to deliberately test the carpenters or to torment them?
---
Bang!
The “village-name drum” mimicking Xunyi Village sounded again.
Clang clang clang clang... A group of craftsmen officials, shaking rattles, appeared once more. They were county-appointed officials overseeing the craftsmen shops. One approached Wang Gewei, shaking his rattle, frowning, and loudly asking, “The measuring-wood training ground! Will you go?”
Wang Gewei quickly shook her head.
The government was truly profit-driven, having established several training grounds at the southernmost part of the exam area. Each training ground was enclosed with felt cloth, preventing outsiders from seeing inside. There was a fee of fifty coins per hour for training.
The “measuring-wood training ground” this official mentioned presumably simulated the first exam item: “marking lines with a giant straight ruler.” Wang Gewei had initially felt uneasy knowing the exam content in advance through Xie Ju, but now it seemed there was no difference from public knowledge!
However, once inside the exam area, one could enter but not leave—unless eliminated early—so even the openly known exam items offered little real advantage to the examinees.
Officials at the training grounds came by every hour to shake the rattles, perhaps to help candidates get used to the noise interference or simply to prevent them from resting well. Regardless, these officials rattled continuously from arrival to departure, grimacing in annoyance at the noise themselves.
“Phew!” Wang Gewei took another deep breath and looked at the wooden slips in her hands. Upon entering the exam area and verifying their bamboo identity tags, each candidate received a wooden tablet densely inscribed with clerical script rules for the exam. Both sides were filled without punctuation.
Candidates could only learn the exam rules through these tablets. Illiterate or unsure of the phrasing could seek assistance from the village-name drum officials or patrol officers, but only after beating the drum loudly enough to meet the officials’ required “village-name call” volume.
It was important to note that officials would only read the rules aloud once rapidly—Wang Gewei seriously doubted whether these officials could even recognize all the characters themselves, suspecting they had simply memorized the text. For illiterate examinees, one reading was hardly enough to remember. Thus, the poorest village with the fewest literates, Xunyi Village, had the longest queues waiting to beat the drum, and naturally, the most officials stationed there.
Dong, dong, dong... This drum was a kind of “timing drum,” used to signal candidates to receive their evening meal. The kitchen was set up under grass-thatched shelters with mobile clay stoves. The evening meal was a slightly salty wheat cake with unlimited hot water.
Wang Gewei first visited the latrine, then collected her wheat cake, returning to her bedding to eat while reciting the exam rules. Before entering the exam hall, the wooden tablets would be collected, so memorization was essential.
As darkness fell, bonfires were lit, their light limited. She removed the earplugs, snuggled under the covers, covering her head, pondering the doubts in her mind.
There were simply too many examinees! Whether from the county government’s quota or the great clans’ quota, once inside the exam area, candidates were assigned based on household registration verified at the registration desk, distributed among the villages and county exam areas. In just Bu Zhi Village’s exam area alone, Wang Gewei roughly counted over 120 people. Before the exam on the fifteenth day, numbers would surely continue to rise.
So, adding all candidates together, wouldn’t there be over six hundred?
Only fifty would be admitted! With so many eliminated, how was it that only the great clans knew the exam content—and so thoroughly? For instance, if A Shu had the chance to reach this stage later, could she resist leaking the exam content to A Shu? Or if A Shu married, could she not share the content with her husband’s clan relatives who might need it?
Wang Gewei turned over, disturbed by the noise. Her ears felt somewhat better, so she replugged them and continued thinking. By now, the craftsmen exam items were as transparent as a sieve—what was there to keep secret? To be blunt, if Xie Ju could find out the exam content, couldn’t Lord Huan? With Lord Huan’s shameless and unorthodox ways, wouldn’t he have already told her?
No, the more she thought, the more off it seemed!
What Xie Ju told her might be true, but definitely not the whole truth! The exam content must hold some other hidden meaning!
---
Wang Gewei drifted off to sleep as she pondered. Not because she was mentally strong, but because she had barely slept last night due to the noise and simply could not stay awake any longer.
Various drums imitating the exam sounds were nothing compared to the “timing drum” in misery! Since the first watch began, every time the watch was reported, all drums sounded together.
So exhausted, Wang Gewei didn’t even know if she had truly been woken up, sat up, then lay back down, or if it was all in a dream.
In the latter half of the night, the most unbearable event arrived!
In the eastern rural militia drill area, large rings of fire were set up. Skilled horsemen galloped through the fiery hoops while spectators counted out loud. The louder and more unified the count, the more spirited the cheers!
The new examinees in the carpenter exam area had no idea of this night event in the militia zone. They mistook it for a fire disaster, stomping and shouting in panic. Poor Wang Gewei was stepped on, groggily sitting up and then lying back down.
Patrol officers shouted to calm them, and as the counting grew clearer, the candidates ceased their fear and began craning their necks to watch.
“One, two, three, four, five... Brave warrior!” Ten fire rings of decreasing size were arranged, and any horseman who leapt over five rings was hailed as a brave warrior by the militia.
“One, two... oh no, help!”
“One... haha!”
All participants, regardless of whether they reached the brave warrior level, were never mocked. The crowd understood that the reason for watching was because most wouldn’t even dare to try.
As the unified counting continued, a brave warrior emerged who leapt over seven fire rings!
After the excitement, the crowd murmured: “Which village is this young warrior from? How can there be such a small militia there?”
“Don’t you know? They’re different from us. After the rural militia competition, they have this extra contest to win the ‘Guardian Youth’ position. Don’t bother asking; it has nothing to do with us ordinary militia.”
The young militia member they discussed was Wang Tian. He could have leapt over more fire rings, but his hair was disheveled and burning from the fire. Still on horseback, Huan Zhen poured two buckets of water over him one after the other.
Wang Tian’s wet hair plastered his face. He parted it slightly and swallowed, saying, “Brother Huan, I suddenly crave roasted lamb.”
(End of chapter)