Chapter 35 The Exam Begins

The Anchang County Wu Xiucai Examination has begun. It is an annual event in the county, attracting many people from the surrounding areas to watch.

It also attracts some people with ulterior motives who want to pick one or two sons-in-law from the candidates.

After all, all the outstanding young men in the county gather here.

In previous years, there have even been cases where several families fell in love with a young man at the same time and fought each other.

The examination room is set up in the school field opposite the county government office, which is about a hundred feet wide. There are fences around it and guarded by government officials.

At this moment, Er Gouzi walked into the examination room with a nervous mood.

Thanks to Sima Yi's arrangement, he followed a young man from the Sima family and walked in smoothly.

Otherwise, with the style of those government officials, they would have to peel off another layer of skin before they could get in.

"Thank you, brother Sima!"

"No, I'm just entrusted by my brother."

The young man from the Sima family obviously didn't want to deal with Er Gouzi. After throwing a word, he turned around and left, walking into a group of young masters in the county, and everyone was talking and laughing.

"Sima Dong, who is that man? Why did you bring a peasant into the examination room?"

"I don't know him either, but my fourteenth brother insisted that I bring him in."

"Since when has the threshold for the martial arts examination been so low that even peasants have come to join in the fun."

At this moment, Er Gouzi was wearing a whitened coarse cloth, which looked out of place compared to the other candidates in the examination room who were dressed in silk and satin.

Therefore, there was a large space around him, and no one wanted to get close.

Everyone was a little curious about how a country farmer got in.

The candidates all looked at Er Gouzi, an outlier, with a sense of superiority as if they were looking at a fool.

Ordinary families gritted their teeth, saved some money for lamp oil and ink, and barely read a little, and there might be some hope of passing the examination for a literary scholar.

As for the path to becoming a martial arts scholar, learning martial arts is very expensive, and it is simply not something that ordinary people can afford.

Therefore, there was no poor person in the entire examination room.

Now a farmer who didn't know how to do things suddenly broke in. Everyone was looking forward to seeing him make a fool of himself in the exam. It would be nice to add some jokes to the exam room.

Er Gouzi was now very sharp-eyed, and the laughter of a group of young masters reached his ears.

Those circles of nobles and young masters were not something he could squeeze into.

After all, people like Sima Yi were very rare.

Er Gouzi stood alone in the crowd, feeling like a crane standing out from the crowd. Looking around, many onlookers had already gathered around the exam room.

Some people even moved some tables, chairs and benches over to take the opportunity to sell some tea fruit.

Some vendors carried a large bag of roasted melon seeds and sold them in the crowd, one penny for a bamboo tube.

Some thieves with three hands also squeezed into the crowd and took the opportunity to make a fortune.

In short, except for the nervous candidates, everyone was very happy.

A high platform was set up in the center of the exam room, with more than a dozen chairs placed on it, which were seats prepared for the examiners.

At this moment, the chairs were still empty, and the officials had not arrived yet.

"Dang! Dangdangdang..."

A gong sounded, and everyone immediately shut up and stood on tiptoe to look towards the platform.

I saw a group of people surrounding the county magistrate and striding over, and then sat down in the middle of the platform.

Below the county magistrate was a row of examiners responsible for scoring, a total of five people.

The remaining seats were given to those prominent figures in the county.

Er Gouzi actually saw Sima Yi on the platform, standing behind a middle-aged man with a beard.

In addition to Sima Yi, he also saw his cousin Zhang Youliang in the crowd.

"The Great Zhou Dynasty Anchang County Wu Xiucai Examination has officially begun!"

With this loud shout, the examination began.

First, the examination rules were announced, which were divided into three rounds.

The first round of weightlifting was an elimination test. Those who could lift a 500-jin stone over their heads with both hands and walk around the field once could pass the test and enter the next two rounds.

If the weightlifting fails, it means that the strength is not enough and you are not qualified to enter the next round of examinations.

The following weapons and fighting examinations will be scored by the examiners.

The first strength test began, and more than 100 candidates were divided into ten groups to take turns.

Those young masters who looked gorgeous in brocade clothes really showed their true strength at this time.

They showed their strong muscles one by one, roared, lifted the 500-jin boulder above their heads, and then walked around the field, winning the exclamations of the spectators outside the field.

Of course, all successes need the foil of losers to make the winners more brilliant.

Some candidates used all their strength to barely lift the stone above their heads, trembling, shaking hands and feet, and fell to the ground after a few steps.

The embarrassed appearance of the losers can trigger bursts of laughter in the crowd.

Seeing others succeed may not make everyone happy, but seeing others fail and make a fool of themselves can definitely make everyone laugh from the bottom of their hearts.

So, when Er Gouzi came on stage, there was a cheer inside and outside the venue.

Many people had prepared their melon seeds and smiles, waiting for Er Gouzi to perform.

So almost all of the 12 candidates in their group were looking at Er Gouzi.

It was not because he was so handsome, but because he looked like a farmer, which was really out of place. Everyone had expected his failure.

However, reality will not change according to everyone's wishes.

I saw 12 candidates in the examination room walk to a row of stones.

Eleven of them stood in horse stance, stuck their buttocks out, and reached out to feel around the stone, looking for the best angle to exert force.

Only Er Gouzi didn't even stand in horse stance, but squatted down to pick up the stone, and then casually clamped the stone under his armpit.

This scene gave the onlookers a strong sense of unreality.

It seemed that what Er Gouzi clamped under his armpit was not a stone, but a hollow piece of wood.

At the same time, other candidates also roared, and finally lifted the stone above their heads and took heavy steps forward.

Seeing this, Er Gouzi found that his operation was not standard, and he was worried that the examiner would grab his braid and judge him unqualified.

These officials had nothing to do every day after dinner, and they liked to find all kinds of reasons to torment people.

Thinking of this, he quickly threw the stone under his armpit back to the ground.

Then he followed the others, stood in horse stance, stuck his buttocks out, and then roared, and then lifted the stone high above his head.

Others walked slowly in front, and Er Gouzi followed slowly with a stone in his hand, trying to do the same as others so as not to be picked on by the examiner.

His imitation behavior was seen as naked ridicule by others, and he felt insulted.

In fact, for Er Gouzi, lifting 500 kilograms with both hands was really no big deal, as the sword on his back weighed 150 kilograms.

Er Gouzi carried a 500-kilogram stone around the venue like this, without changing his expression, breathing evenly, and not even sweating a few drops.

This made the people who were waiting to see the joke very disappointed.