Chapter 4: The Provincial Examination Begins, Unexpected Difficulties Arise

Page (1/3) Chapter 4 The Beginning of the Provincial Exam, Trouble Unfolds

“Miss, the provincial exam is approaching…” Steward Chen hesitated, words stuck on his lips.

Lin Shiya understood his concern. She set down her book, rose to stretch her limbs, and said, “Uncle Chen, I know. I’ll be sure to rest. This exam means a great deal to me—I’ll give it my all.” Steward Chen nodded in relief and withdrew from the study.

The next morning, Lin Shiya arrived at the examination grounds, her heart brimming with anticipation.

Outside, a crowd bustled at the gates; candidates from all corners jostled shoulder to shoulder, the air thick with tension and excitement. Tall arches, vermilion walls, and a solemn, dignified atmosphere all highlighted the sanctity and authority of the imperial examinations.

Taking a deep breath to calm her racing heart, Lin Shiya stepped inside.

Sunlight filtered through the tall walls, casting dappled shadows across the courtyard. Lin Shiya found her seat according to her admission slip, but when she arrived, she was stunned.

Her desk was a wreck—the legs were broken, the surface pitted and uneven, utterly unusable.

Other candidates glanced over, their eyes filled with confusion, and whispers swirled through the air. A sense of foreboding crept into Lin Shiya’s heart. This was no accident—someone had done this deliberately.

She looked around, searching for the culprit, but found no clue. Anxiety and anger warred within her, but she forced herself to stay calm and strode quickly toward the exam proctors patrolling the hall.

She explained her situation to Chief Examiner Zhang, hoping for assistance.

But both Chief Examiner Zhang and Master Sun beside him brushed her off with an air of complete indifference. They responded absentmindedly, stalling without taking any action.

Minute by minute, time slipped away. The eyes of the other candidates landed on Lin Shiya like needles, their whispers growing louder.

Lin Shiya felt suffocated. Despair began to creep in. She clenched her fists, took a deep breath, and let her gaze fall upon the candidate beside her—Li.

“Sir,” Lin Shiya summoned her courage to speak.

Li looked up, surprised to see a slightly youthful face with a trace of heroic spirit between the brows. He was startled, then offered a warm smile.

“Is there something you need?” he asked.

Lin Shiya spoke plainly, “To be honest, my seat has been sabotaged and I cannot use it. Would you mind sharing a corner of your desk?”

Without hesitation, Candidate Li stood and shifted his inkstone and writing tools toward her, clearing half the desk.

“It’s a small matter—please, use it as you need,” he replied cheerfully, not the least displeased.

The other candidates watched, gossiping among themselves. Some whispered that Lin must have considerable influence to inspire such generosity from a stranger; others wondered if she possessed some remarkable quality to earn such goodwill.

A warm current surged in Lin Shiya’s heart. In this hall full of malice and indifference, Li’s kindness was a rare ray of sunlight. She nodded gratefully and murmured, “Thank you.” Without further pleasantries, she sat, arranged her writing tools, and prepared to begin.

But as she dipped her brush into the ink and set it to paper, something was wrong. The strokes she wrote bled into the page like ink soaked in water, blurred and illegible.

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She frowned and inspected her tools. The ink was as thin as water, and the brush tip coarser than usual—not the fine wolf-hair brush she’d brought.

At once, she realized—someone was sabotaging her again.

Anger blazed within her. She looked up, scanning the room, and not far away saw Candidate Wang, watching her with a smug, sinister smile, his eyes full of malicious delight, as if savoring a good show.

Lin Shiya’s fists clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white. She longed to march over and teach that petty villain a lesson.

The tension in the exam hall thickened. Eyes flicked between Lin Shiya and Candidate Wang; whispers wove an invisible net that seemed to ensnare her.

The blurred ink on the page felt like a dagger stabbing into her heart, suffocating her.

Lin Shiya forced herself to calm down. She closed her eyes, mind racing for a solution. Now was not the time to act out of anger—she had to find a way through this dilemma.

“What are you looking at?” A quiet, cool voice sounded right beside her ear, startling Lin Shiya’s eyes open.

She turned to see a man in a blue robe standing beside her—a handsome face, stern and cold, with eyes as deep as the night sky, impossible to fathom.

A strange sense of familiarity stirred in Lin Shiya’s heart.

“It’s nothing,” she replied, quickly averting her gaze and trying to compose herself.

She reassessed her predicament. If the ink was too pale and the brush too coarse, she’d have to try another way.

Her gaze landed on a pile of broken bamboo slips in the corner of the hall. An audacious idea flashed through her mind.

She rose, gathered a few of the flattest slips, and scraped some of the remaining ink stick into powder. Carefully, she spread the powder over the bamboo, pressing it in place with her fingers.

Then she sharpened the edge of a slip to craft a makeshift “charcoal pencil.”

Her movements were fluid and precise. The other candidates stared in astonishment; the previously noisy room fell silent except for the soft rasp of bamboo against paper.

No one had ever seen such ingenuity, nor expected such calm and resourcefulness in adversity.

Even Chief Examiner Zhang, coldly observing, frowned slightly. Master Sun at his side could not help but whisper in awe, “What a clever candidate! To devise such a solution…”

Lin Shiya returned to her seat and tried a few lines with her improvised charcoal pencil. The strokes weren’t as smooth as with a wolf-hair brush, but they were clearly legible—enough for the exam.

Satisfied, she smiled with renewed confidence.

Seeing her resolve the problem so easily, Chief Examiner Zhang grew even more displeased. He signaled to Master Sun, “Go—patrol the hall. See if there’s any other misconduct.”

Master Sun understood at once and began to pace about the hall, deliberately lingering near Lin Shiya, muttering to himself and creating distracting noises to break her concentration.

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Lin Shiya frowned. Master Sun’s actions were indeed disruptive, but she ignored him, forcing herself to focus and block out all interference.

Her gaze was steady, her pen flew across the page with a soft, unyielding sound—a silent defiance against the clamor and malice around her.

“Sir…” The blue-robed man spoke again, his deep, magnetic voice cutting through the din.

But Lin Shiya paid him no heed, losing herself in her answers. Her makeshift charcoal pencil, though not as smooth as a wolf-hair brush, glided under her hand as if guided by inspiration; each character clear and strong.

The questions seemed already familiar to her—her writing flowed effortlessly, her thoughts like a bubbling spring, and page after page of beautiful prose sprang to life.

While others struggled, frowning in frustration, Lin Shiya’s rapid and elegant writing drew both envy and admiration from her peers.

Chief Examiner Zhang and Master Sun’s expressions darkened further. They had thought their petty sabotage would defeat her, but she had not only overcome each obstacle but also displayed stunning talent.

Their eyes were sharp and venomous, wishing they could devour Lin Shiya whole.

She, however, paid them no mind. Lost in the joy of answering, she felt a deep sense of achievement, as if her talent was flowing freely from her pen.

Confidence filled her—every stroke carried strength, every character was imbued with wisdom.

At last, the gong sounded, marking the end of the exam.

Lin Shiya set down her “charcoal pencil” and let out a long breath. Relief and satisfaction filled her heart.

She double-checked her paper, and, finding no errors, stood and handed in her answer sheet.

As she approached Chief Examiner Zhang, his hawk-like gaze swept over her, and a faint unease stirred in her heart. She knew this was not the end—only the beginning. The road ahead would be even more perilous.

Suppressing her anxiety, she maintained a calm expression as she walked out of the hall and looked up at the sky.

Outside, the heavens seemed shrouded in gloom, pressing down upon her. At some point, a wind had risen, stirring dust into the air.

The chill in the wind swept away the tension of the exam, but also unsettled Lin Shiya’s thoughts.

“Your calligraphy is powerful,” the blue-robed man remarked quietly at her side.

Lin Shiya glanced at him. His expression was unchanged, but there was a hint of admiration in his tone.

“Thank you,” she replied with a slight nod, saying nothing more.

The man’s lips curled in a faint smile. He turned and walked away, his parting words drifting on the wind—“How interesting…”

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