The days quickly passed by as Xuanbao diligently ascended the mountain daily to study, soon arriving at the day of the Imperial Examination Court exam.
Ruo Shui and Ruo Jiang had both passed the county and prefectural exams and were only participating in the court exam as Scholars.
Therefore, they needed to finish the court exam before they could attempt the provincial exam. The child student exam was held a few days before the provincial one; those who passed could proceed to the provincial exam, and after passing that, they would wait for the imperial examinations to continue their trials.
Ordinarily, the provincial and court exams did not coincide, with the provincial exam occurring once every three years at the end of autumn, whereas the court exam was held every year in April or May.
However, this year was exceptional, as the Imperial Court had scheduled an additional court exam for reasons unknown.
