Chapter 94: Marking the test:

We all turned in early for the night. Tomorrow was a new day and a lot of work piled up for me to do. However, it seems that I couldn't sleep. There are a lot of things that I was thinking about. I only had a year and a half... During this period there are a lot of things I need to do.

Firstly I need to make sure that after my death my siblings will be well looked after. But Prince Li Tian You cannot die nor will he. I will make sure that gege takes my place after I shut my eyes forever. A year and a half. That is quite a lot of time already. I wanted to die a very long time ago. But now that it has come to this it just feels really weird.

Before I die I want to go and see Xin'er one last time. After the ceremony is over I need to go back home. I have decided to go to Gusu. I want to know the truth. It's been 5 years yet I still want to know the truth. Why? Why did she choose to marry Ma Jing Tai when I promised to marry her? Father had already agreed to let her become my secondary consort although it's not the first consort place, but it was better than marrying Ma Jing Tai. 

I should remove these thoughts from my mind. The most important thing right now is to sleep and get some good rest. I closed my eyes and before long I reached a peaceful pace with my heartbeat and breathing. 

*

The next day:

"Chidle, wake up," shouted Yu Xuan as I shot straight up. "What's wrong?" I asked. "I have been shaking you for a long time now. I was worried that you weren't gonna wake up," he muttered as I smiled at him. "We are all gonna die one day," I mumbled whilst hopping out of bed.

Yu Xuan didn't say anything as he helped me put on my clothes. Today I was wearing a bright red hanfu. I didn't want to wear this however, Yu Xuan said that red was a lucky colour and I suppose I need luck once in a while. 

I stepped out of my chambers and walked towards the teacher's meeting room. We were all gonna mark the writing paper together. The drawing paper would also be 

"My Lord," everyone chorused as I entered the room. They all stood up and I motioned for them to sit down. even Shang Guan Yue was here. Well, that was a surprise. The man hated socialising here. "So everyone marks a paper and put a mark out of 40. Good luck," I ordered as everyone nodded. 

I don't know how many papers I have marked but a lot had many low marks such a shame. Especially since most of them did really well in the practical exams. Almost all martial arts clans will test their students in practical and refinement. The refinement should consist of poetry, calligraphy, drawing and written exams. A person's refinement is their character. The Moon Valley consider it their duty to produce a master with both martial arts skills and good character. It is very important for Moon Valley to do such things as the Moon Valley needs to be seen as a school that is part of the righteous sect. 

"So how is it?" I asked. We had all been marking the writing test for a whole afternoon. We split the 60 exams up. "All done?" I asked as everyone nodded. "Let's take a break for lunch and we can count all the scores at the end," I mumbled leading everyone out of the room.

I locked the room with a lock and set a barrier in the whole room. No one can enter the room until I release the barrier. Everyone saw me doing this. I must make sure everyone saw me doing this on purpose. "Let's all go and have lunch. I'll treat," I asked as everyone nodded.

Throughout the lunch period, nobody has left my eyesight. My junior brothers must have noticed what I was doing as they also helped me tail on everyone. I must do this just in case something happens wrong with the exam score. 

As we finished everyone walked back to the teaching conference together. Nobody left and nobody came inside the room. I didn't receive any message that someone had tried to break into the barrier. I removed the barrier opened the door and stepped in. The salt I laid on the floor didn't have any footprints so it seemed nobody came inside. Thankfully. 

Everyone sat back down and we began to tally the scores for all of the exams. We finally made a list of the highest to lowest scores. Everyone was happy and we placed the scores up. It was only the first 15 as the first 15 came to be taken as inner disciples by any of us.

"So should I place the score up?" I asked as everyone nodded. I walked towards the notice board that was in front of the teacher conference room and placed the scores up. Everyone began to cuddle around and I walked back into the conference room muttering, "I won," whilst looking at Shang Gu, Shang Guan Yue and Shang Guan Tao. They all laughed at me heartily. 

"Shall we do the apprenticeship ceremony tomorrow?" I asked as everyone nodded. Everyone had already known the reward for being in the top 15. I suppose those who got the top 15 would be looking forward to tommorrow.