Amid the bells, students roll in their robes in the breeze and step on peach blossom petals on the stone floor. They all went into their rooms to prepare for the exam, leaving Sangsang alone on the stone floor. The spring rain began to fall, and Sang Sang raised his head and squinted at the rain before opening the big black umbrella tied to his back.

The college entrance exam was similar to the imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty and was divided into six subjects: etiquette, music, bow, driving, calligraphy, and mathematics. The morning exams were etiquette, calligraphy, and mathematics, the first of which was the mathematics exam, which was rarely a specialty of the Tang people. Or in other words, they couldn't care more about it.

The examination room is quiet, and the pink flowers outside the window complement the white walls, like a beautiful landscape painting, creating a contemplative atmosphere. After receiving the test papers, the candidates behind the desks were all messed up and lamented.

"Why is it a synthesis problem again?" Some shouted with their hands clutching their hair.

"Aren't we unlucky?" Someone complained with a pale face.

Because there is no noise rule at all, all candidates can't help but express their complaints and grief in various ways. It is well known that synthesis problems are often the most difficult in recent years and are often designed by professors of literature and mathematics. Sometimes, candidates can't even understand the questions.

Ning Que put the brush on the ink board and inhaled the cold air deeply. Then he opened the test paper, on which only one question was raised, only a few dozen words. Here's how it works:

"In the spring, the dean of the college toured around the world and came across a peach blossom mountain. Then he climbed up to enjoy the scenery and have a drink. At first, the principal cut off a ball of peach blossoms and drank a bottle of wine. Later, he cut off a clump of peach blossoms, but saved the wine, and he only drank half a bottle. And then a lump, half of a bottle ... So I went up to the top of the mountain, and drank all the bottles. The principal looked around blankly and asked everyone, "How many peach blossoms did I cut today?" How many bottles of wine did I drink?

Ning Que has lived a hard life since he was a child, and he is quite good at controlling his emotions, or it can be said that he suppressed his true feelings and changed his expression from sadness to joy. He rarely recalls those old days. At this moment, he was in the examination room of the academy, looking at the apricot blossoms and peach blossoms outside the window, and heard the complaints about comprehensive problems around him. He couldn't help but think of those difficult days, and he worked hard to learn all the subjects day after day.

Thanks to those hard days, the correct answer quickly flashed into his mind, because the question was really simple for him, and he exclaimed, "This is really uh (homonyms for two people, silly)!"

Indeed it is – the answer is just the plain number "two".

Ning Que dipped the brush in ink and meticulously wrote on the paper: "The dean of the college drank two bottles of wine and cut a peach blossom mountain.

...

...

In a pavilion far from the academy, a Taoist priest savours the black and white chess pieces on the chessboard, moving the fingers of his right hand in the air as if playing the piano or catching the breeze. Suddenly, his fingers paused, and a black chess piece jumped out of the bowl and sat at the intersection of a vertical and horizontal line.

As the leader of the Southern School of Haotian Taoism, the national teacher, it was not surprising to see Li Qingshan playing like this effortlessly and carelessly. However, strangely, a deep brow grew on his brow and he seemed reluctant to play with the monk.

The monk's name is Huang Yang, and he now lives in Wanyan Tower, Nancheng, Chang'an. Rumor has it that he once went to an unknown place in the wilderness to study in the Upper Buddhist School. A few years ago, by chance, he met the emperor, and they have been sworn brothers ever since. Thus, he received the shining title - the younger brother of the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. However, the monks led a consistent ascetic life, reading and chanting translated Buddhist scriptures in the pagoda and rarely went out.

Huang Yang stared at the chessboard quietly. Then with a gentle blink of his eyes, a white chess piece rose and landed on the board, without hearing anything. The white pieces blocked the freedom of the blacks, and the captured black pieces were removed from the chessboard, and seven or eight pieces were piled up. I couldn't see his movements at all.

Of course, when the lord of the kingdom and the emperor's younger brother were playing chess, no one dared to interrupt. Ordinary monks and Taoist priests would not have had the opportunity to take a closer look at this scene at all, otherwise, they would definitely be amazed by their extraordinary skills.

Li Qingshan looked at the black and white chess pieces, shook his head, and said, "Since when did there be such a rule, Your Majesty is in the palace, one guard is in the palace, and two guards when you leave the palace?" It seems that someone dares to do something to His Majesty, let alone in the academy that His Majesty visited. How could something happen there?

Huang Yang smiled, looked into his eyes, and said, "I don't know."

Li Qingshan sighed and said, "I believe you have heard about Zhao Xiaoshu's matter, right?" It's a shame. If he had entered the Heavenly Mandate Realm ten years ago, you and I would have no place to be a guard for Your Majesty.

Huang Yang shook his head and replied, "Whether you have no experience in the Jianghu Realm, or you have the opportunity to comprehend the lakes in the palace, even if you are a future genius, no one can be sure that you will enter the realm of knowing the destiny of heaven.

Li Qingshan disagreed. "You're doing menial work in a pagoda and don't know what's going on. Chao Xiaoshu was originally admitted to the academy and entered the second floor by himself. If he was on the second floor, taught by the head of the academy, he could easily enter the realm of knowing the destiny of heaven.

Huang Yang was silent for a while, and then said softly: "It's really a blessing to be taught by the principal.

Li Qingshang pondered his neat appearance for a moment, and then laughed at himself: "Others think that we have never met, but there is no clue that we have met in the academy.

The monk is the legitimate protector of Buddhism, while the monk is the leader of the southern school of Haotian Taoism. No matter what they want to do, their status does not allow them to enter the academy. Even on the day of the graduation ceremony celebrated by the emperor and all the officials at the academy, the two most respected men could only sit at a great distance from them and play chess.

"When is the headmaster leaving?"

"After the graduation ceremony."

"He did his best."

Huang Yang looked at Li Qingshan quietly and said, "I'm still looking at how tall the dean is."

After being silent for a long time, Li Qingshan replied, "My instructor once mentioned that he is as tall as several floors.

After a pause, Huang Yang showed a sincere smile, and then sighed slowly. "The second floor is high enough to go in, and even higher than that...... It's too high!

The calligraphy and etiquette tests are taken after the art tests. Ning Que's confidence was replaced by deep worry at this moment. Sangsang's considerations were completely justified - her young master was busy gobbling up egg noodle soup, chatting with the girls in the Red Sleeve House, killing people in the Spring Breeze Pavilion, and calculating how much money she made every day. Not surprisingly, he didn't have enough time to review and memorize mock tests. Even if he memorized all this knowledge, it would not make sense, because he lived in the mountains and steppes, where it was impossible for him to acquire all this knowledge. If you ask him to write the article "The Word's Response," he can probably do it, but more than that would be too much.

Ning Que didn't plan to submit a blank piece of paper, because it would make him too conservative, just like the emperor's younger brother. So, he carefully filled the paper with words, from front to back, as if what he had written was the correct answer. This is another question that pops into his mind, as he just hopes that the instructor will at least give him a "diligent" score.

During the writing process, he skillfully pulled some tricks because he knew that the only advantage he could take advantage of was his neat handwriting. Therefore, he put all his attention on handwriting, deliberately choosing small orthography in the form of hairpins, which he rarely wrote in this kind of writing.

Choosing that kind of script, there is absolutely nothing to hide except for gender, and Ning Que deliberately conceals it. Since hairpin-style little regular scripts can easily be mistaken for some beautiful lady with an official background, it may get some unfortunate points.

The bell rang again because it had come to an end. Ning Que was a little drowsy when he left the examination room. He lifted his shoulders and spread his arms to see Sangsang's expectant face. Accompanied by Zhu Youxian, he hurriedly had lunch and prepared for the afternoon exam.

He was confident about the afternoon test. So in the face of the eager eyes of all the instructors and examiners, Ning Que looked around at all the instruments and made a decisive decision, that is...... Quit.