CHAPTER 64: CHAPTER 64: THE PURSUIT OF LEARNING

Tan Huanhuan looked around and saw her small sack empty, "Ah Zhi, why didn’t you catch any?"

In contrast, Shen Chen’s small sack already had three animals, one chicken, one duck, and one rabbit.

The autumn air was crisp and cool, but Ye Zhi’s little face still got a bit warm, she stammered in reply, "Those, those little animals run so fast, I can’t catch up."

In truth, she was actually afraid of these furry little animals, whether it was a cute little puppy or kitten, chicks, or ducklings, no matter how lovable they were, she was always hesitant to touch them. Not many knew about this, but Father Ye, Ye’s mother, and Ah Tao did, and they never let her get close to them.

Some time before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Father Ye brought home a little white puppy named "Ah Wang."

Once, it wasn’t locked properly and chased Ye Zhi halfway around the Ye Mansion. Afterwards, they found out about her not daring to touch animals, and it was sent away the next day. Father Ye also ordered no small animals were to be kept in the Ye Mansion.

Thus, the first horse-riding round this morning was already a brave act for Ye Zhi, quite difficult indeed.

She had already decided to concede this round and fight in the next two.

The righteous Tan Huanhuan would surely not let her give up, and immediately brought her along, with two other gentle men, to help gather the game.

Chickens and ducks were easy to handle, but rabbits were the main focus, as they ran too fast and traps needed to be set~

Rabbits are mammals, primarily herbivorous. The place where rabbits were released by Imperial College was generally on fertile grasslands, where the fertile soil guaranteed tall grass growth.

Rabbits are large, with long legs, good at jumping, keen hearing, and difficult to catch.

It wasn’t easy to catch one!

The one Shen Chen caught had required quite an effort.

Finding a spot, they used juicy, sweet grass as bait, utilizing a basket woven by Tan Huanhuan, the four of them lay in ambush hiding in the dark, a rope attached to the flower basket, waiting for the prey to jump over.

"Huanhuan, will rabbits really come here like this? It doesn’t matter if I fail this round, I’ve already passed two rounds, one more is enough for me, don’t waste your time."

She spoke with pride about passing two rounds on her own.

This time her parents won’t underestimate her, will they? All this she accomplished on her own skills, her father wouldn’t need to pull strings for her anymore, she could handle it herself~

Thinking happily, a light giggle escaped her lips.

Her face full of joy, hard to disguise.

Tan Huanhuan made a gesture to quiet down, indicating not to disturb the rabbit, spoke softly and gently, "It’s only the second day of exams now, there are outstanding scholars gathered from all over the nation aiming to perform perfectly and achieve the highest scores.

These are just preliminary trials, gradually filtering down to the final stage, if there are many candidates, those who don’t perform well in exams will be eliminated.

So, complete it if you can, if I’m not mistaken, there are also many princes and princesses from other households attending, therefore, Imperial College might give extra points to them, which makes the situation more disadvantageous for us."

"Mm."

Ji Changzhou nodded, "Huanhuan is right, there’s fierce competition for slots this time, recently in the Capital City, I’ve seen many people in exotic attire, difference being they all accompanied by a young master or mistress."

He paused and said, "If I’m not mistaken, they are all here for schooling, as the saying goes, seeking education is not easy."

As the saying goes, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, and during the exam, I didn’t notice any difference in attire, they must have changed to look just like the Han people.

Is the competition really that intense.

Looking over at Shen Chen beside him, he also saw him nodding.

"Why didn’t anyone tell me about this?"

Tan Huanhuan shook her head, "I’m not sure, but even my family in Yangzhou knew it, you in the Capital City should have been more informed."