SMMW | Chapter 3

Round 2

Having been baptized by failure, Song Hao reflected painfully on his mistakes and decided that first, he would, customize his face!

To think his own mother mocked him right at the start for looking plain. This time, he was absolutely going to make a peerless handsome man!

And so, over the next two hours, the viewer count in the livestream wobbled steadily downward.

[What kind of stream am I even watching, a face-customization master?]

[Didn’t you say looks didn’t matter?]

[When’s the next round starting?]

[*** stop fiddling with those eyebrows]

[Bro, your emperor route is about to turn into a pretty boy]

By the time the viewer count dropped to 37, Song Hao had finally finished.

Saved himself 12 yuan in one furious stroke, let’s go!

The hard work had not been in vain. The effect was immediate.

First of all, Mother became much more loving and opened her mouth with praise right away.

“Mother is already old. You were born handsome and elegant, and you study diligently as well. As long as you do not slack off, you will certainly be able to pass the county-level exam seven days from now and become a xiucai. That is also Mother’s greatest wish.”

Then Xing’er’s favorability and gifts also increased.

“…If anything comes up, you can come to the mountain to find me.”

※ Xing’er Favor +4, Tongcao x2

“So the favor and gifts just directly doubled, huh? What a face-judging world!” Song Hao clicked to accept them indignantly, then immediately proposed a theory. “If I grind Xing’er’s favor high enough, will she be able to find Golden Vine Flower? I’ll test it this round.”

So every day, Song Hao ran to the Back Mountain twice to grind favor, collected a whole pile of tongcao, and then went straight to sleep at night to reduce his Fatigue. He truly did not read a single day’s worth of books.

After the two runs on Day Six, Xing’er’s favor had reached 40.

When her favor reached 20, it triggered the plot event “Flower Garland.” When it reached 40, it triggered the plot event “Mountain Song.” In short, there was still no Golden Vine Flower. Looks like that would have to come from a later event.

On Day Seven, Song Hao headed to the exam grounds carrying 12 Literary Talent and 0 Fatigue. The journey added 5 points of Fatigue, and then he slept it off in one go, so it could truly be said that he arrived full of energy.

The day the results were posted came.

Top scorer of the county-level exam: Wen Qing

Liang Xuan, Zou Hui, Gao Changguang, An Kenti…

Just as expected, he had not passed.

“This Wen Qing is first again. Isn’t the ranking list supposed to be random? Or is he some NPC from later on?”

[There’ll be a few helpers hidden among your classmates. This Wen Qing is probably a strategist]

[Normally the setup is one literary and one martial]

[The martial general is usually somewhere near the bottom]

[Stop telling him already!]

[Any of the top five could be one, so be careful, there are traitorous flatterers in there too]

Song Hao carefully read the comment section and thought, you people are the ones telling me on your own, I’m not the one checking guides. Unexpectedly, because the character stayed in front of the posted list for too long, it accidentally triggered a dialogue event.

A crudely modeled passerby face asked, “May I ask, brother, what rank did you place?”

There was only one option, 〖Did not pass〗, extremely blunt, not leaving him an ounce of dignity.

[Contempt from the officials]

[Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha]

[That was absolutely on purpose]

[They’re mocking you for being trash, daring to take the exam with 12 Literary Talent]

[Brother really didn’t read even a little]

“Ha, ha, ha.” Song Hao only felt that the officials were raging in incompetence. “It’s fine. This round was an experimental round to begin with. Let’s now see whether all the favor I farmed can lead to marriage.”

〖Literary Talent: 12, did not pass the county-level exam.

Achievement earned: Not Yet Emerged.

Xing’er Favor: 40, marriage condition not met.

Entered ending: Old Man of the Countryside (Ten years at the window all wasted in vain, might as well go home early and sleep. Ma! Tomorrow I’m heading to the fields~)〗

[Even the ending line turned into an illiterate version]

[The official side is so mean. Love it~]

[Didn’t get out of the newbie village, not qualified to have a wife]

[Favor has to reach 100 to get married. Now I really believe you didn’t check a guide]

[Next round, let’s go!]

Round 3

This round, Song Hao put aside all distractions and focused wholeheartedly on studying. Every time he gained Literary Talent, he saved and rerolled it. If it was not above 5, he kept rolling. He only rested when Fatigue went above 20. Day and night, racing the clock, Xing’er was not visited even once.

At last, he arrived at the exam grounds with 77 Literary Talent.

At that point, the system prompted that his Literary Talent had reached the standard, and he could enter the answer-the-questions stage. The accuracy rate would affect his ranking in the county-level exam.

Song Hao froze for a second. “Oh, so I still have to answer questions.”

[……]

[Three rounds in, and you finally made it to this step]

[Go home. Go home, child]

[So people really do laugh when they’re angry]

[Hurry up already, it’s two in the morning]

“Alright… I’m saving first.”

When you were used to being a coward, saving was nothing to be ashamed of.

After saving, Song Hao also took out his phone, turned on voice mode plus smart search. This was called being foolproof.

〖Question One: What is the next line after “随风潜入夜”?〗

“C! 润物细无声.”

〖Correct〗

〖Question Two: In which dynasty did the imperial examination system originate?〗

“Tang? Sui-Tang… Sui, Sui!”

〖Correct〗

〖Question Three: What is the opening line of Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng?〗

“庆历四年春!”

〖Incorrect〗

“What do you mean incorrect!? ‘In the spring of the fourth year of Qingli, Teng Zijing was demoted to govern Baling Commandery’… then rebuilt Yueyang Tower… alright, loading the save and doing it over.”

Using the great art of rewinding, and relying on real-time searches, Song Hao finally got all five questions right and achieved the excellent result of taking first place in the county-level exam.

With spring breeze in his stride, even the NPCs’ flattery sounded especially pleasant.

Sure enough, after standing in front of the posted list for a long time, he once again encountered that passerby face who asked about rank. This time, Song Hao viciously pressed 〖First〗 and washed away his earlier humiliation in one stroke.

First place naturally came with first-place treatment. The surrounding NPCs all crowded over to flatter him.

One praised his learning. Another asked whether he was already matched in marriage.

That was, until an excellently modeled NPC squeezed his way in front of him and triggered a new plot event.

〖“I am Wen Qing. May I ask this brother’s honored name?” A young man in embroidered robes looks at you with blazing eyes.

“This untalented one is surnamed Yuan, given name Hao, from Hezhou County.”

“So it is Yuan Xiucai before me. I was just about to congratulate Brother Yuan for taking top place in the county-level exam. My home is holding a banquet tomorrow, with a little modest wine prepared. Might I ask whether you would honor us with your presence?”

At this moment, you will: Agree / Refuse〗

Song Hao leaned close to the screen. “So you’re Wen Qing? Pretty snobbish of you. I didn’t see you the first two times, though you didn’t know me either. What, want to witness the bearing of first place? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.”

[Look at him getting all smug]

[Petty man prospers]

[No clue who it was earlier scrambling with save-loads]

[A bad student cheating to bully the top student in the grade]

[Anyway, congratulations first [Heart x1]]

One heart was worth one mao. After the split, Song Hao could get five fen. After streaming this long today, he had finally gotten a little something out of it.

“Thanks to boss ‘Don’t Eat Lemons’ for the heart~ At a time like this, of course I’m choosing Agree. I’ve already figured out the pattern of this face-obsessed game. His model looks this good, so he’s definitely an important NPC.”

〖Yuan Hao returned the salute and said, “I am honored by your elegant invitation. I will certainly attend.”〗

“Look at the way our little wording is arranged, cultured, that’s what it is.”

But right after agreeing, Song Hao felt a bit regretful and wanted to see what kind of plot rejecting him would lead to. He opened the saves, only to find that one was from when he was studying and rerolling for 5 Literary Talent, while the other was from right before the exam-question section began. Since he did not want to answer the questions all over again, he gave up on rewinding his progress.

〖The next day, the Wen family really did lay out banquet tables for an entire street, and the sounds of congratulations coming and going never ceased. Madam Wen busily directed young servants and maids in receiving guests, her face filled with joy. Upon hearing that you had arrived, she even hurriedly had someone call Wen Qing over to receive you.

Not long after, Wen Qing came to the entrance and warmly, yet without overstepping, invited you inside. Then he deliberately paused, carefully looked Madam Wen up and down for quite a while, and his expression grew serious. “Mother, you’ve overworked yourself. Rest for a while.”

Madam Wen did not wish to say too much in front of an outsider, and vaguely replied, “It’s nothing. Today is a happy day. Mother is glad. Everyone came to congratulate you, so don’t keep that face of yours so stiff. Why aren’t you quickly inviting Yuan Xiucai inside to taste the newly arrived tea?”

Wen Qing hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

He looked toward you with a bit of apology, forced himself to perk up and speak with you. After chatting for a while, the atmosphere softened, and he casually asked, “Brother Yuan is so talented, may I ask, how many times have you taken the county-level exam?”

Your answer is: First time / Third time / Tenth time〗

[Three]

[Third round]

[Streamer, be honest]

[33333333333333333333]

[Why not choose tenth time and see? [Little Yellow Duck x1]]

The Little Yellow Duck was a 1-yuan gift. He could get five jiao from it after the split. Just moving his mouse could earn him money, so of course he arranged it immediately.

Song Hao beamed. “Thanks, boss~ But I’m still saving first, haha. I want to see what plot corresponds to the different choices.”

[Save, save, I’m curious too [laugh-cry]]

The boss did not mind, so Song Hao saved at ease and chose 〖Tenth time〗.

〖Wen Qing stopped in his tracks and looked at you with a face full of shock. After moving his lips for a while, he awkwardly said, “Brother Yuan… your great accumulation has borne fruit at last.”

※ Cunning -3〗

[Hahahahahahahaha, that’s what you get for being ridiculous]

[Equivalent to repeating elementary school for ten years]

[Making your already limited brains even worse]

[He probably doesn’t even want to invite you to dinner anymore]

[Cunning is hard to raise, hurry up and load]

Naturally, Song Hao listened to the advice and loaded the save. This time he chose 〖Third time〗.

〖Wen Qing nodded and cupped his hands. “My own studies are still shallow. Since Brother Yuan and I are now fellow students, I will surely ask for much guidance in the future. I only hope Brother Yuan will not disdain me.”

※ Wen Qing Favor +2〗

“So he thinks I’ve studied for longer and wants to hug my thigh?” Song Hao was not bothered by that. There was definitely no downside to getting on good terms with an NPC. He kept loading the save and chose 〖First time〗.

〖Wen Qing’s eyes widened, clearly very surprised. After a moment’s hesitation, he said, “My own studies are still shallow. Since Brother Yuan and I are now fellow students, I will surely ask for much guidance in the future. I only hope Brother Yuan will not disdain me.”

※ Wen Qing Favor +1〗

“Huh? Why did the favor drop?” Song Hao looked carefully, and it really was lower than the Third Time option. “It’s jealousy, right? I’m just too amazing, so I’m giving him a sense of crisis. But there’s nothing to be done. Our protagonist is just that kind of person. You’ll get used to it later.”

[So punchable…]

[Why can’t my hand reach through the screen]

[Bro, just lie to yourself if you want]

[No clue who was reciting Memorial to Yueyang Tower just now]

[Fan Favor -1]