Torture

Zhou Linghuai agreed deeply. "Continuing to take the examination will take more time and money. We don't know if he'll be able to pass next time, and there are many people who have taken the examination from young to old. They will only be left with grief and indignation. On the other hand, donating to an official requires a lot of money. Not to mention whether they can afford it, even if they can, taking the path of donating to an official will basically cut off their future path."

It was already enough for an official to reach the seventh-grade.

Officials who were seventh-grade and above had to be evaluated every three years. This was the key to promotion.

The first round of the evaluation was birth.

Similarly, first-class scholars, second-class scholars and so on were all key to the examination. Those who had donated to the officials were not qualified to be on the examination list, so it was impossible for them to take another step forward.

But!