2 Because of Ignorance

"Brother Xia, what do you think?" Seeing that Xia Fan did not react, Wei Wushuang couldn't help but ask.

Xia Fan smiled slightly. "I was thinking that instead of making wild guesses, I should ask someone who knows about this."

"Ah? Who would know?"

He raised his hand and waved at the waiter. "Waiter, please come over!"

"Hey, come!"

Xia Fan tilted his head. "Look, someone who knows is here."

Wei Wushuang opened his mouth wide and said astonishedly, "You think that… the waiter of this teahouse knows the details of the examination?"

"In fact, I was wondering at first, why would an isolated village built halfway up a mountain have an inn and teahouse at its center?" Xia Fan put down his cup of tea and slowly explained his doubts, "This place is neither close to the big city nor on the main traffic routes. If not for the examination, who would have nothing to do and visit these stores? Nobody would be willing to work if they were doomed to make losses."

"Ugh…" Wei Wushuang was stunned. "You make sense."

"Look at this green brick floor. It should be at least a few decades old and doesn't look like it was done just for this examination. The reason why the store has lasted so long must be because of other sources of income. Who do you think wouldn't care about profit and loss and would be willing to invest in such places?"

"Could it be… the Privy Council responsible for the mystic examination? Even so, what does it have to do with the waiter?" Wei Wushuang still couldn't understand.

"The imperial examination only needs a paper and a pen. The martial arts examination only needs open space and weapons. Both basically don't require a specific venue. For the mystic examination, it's not as if they can just find any location, right? Otherwise, the Privy Council wouldn't have taken the trouble to gather everyone in this remote town." Xia Fan said, "After all, in terms of office and administrative costs, going to the big city is always the best option, which is why the last of the two exams are set in the capital."

"Administrative… costs?" Wei Wushuang repeated after him.

"Cough, don't care so much about the wording. You can just understand it as the difference between the profits and costs for the examination." He displayed two fingers. "Anyway, we can deduce two points. Firstly, the venue for the examination needs to be somewhat special, so there shouldn't be too many of such venues. Secondly, in order to maintain the examination venue, the council would need to continuously invest money.

"Although the Privy Council is extremely important, it cannot spend money indiscriminately. They have maintained the Qing Shan Town for a long time without any issues, and it will certainly not be just for this examination. In other words, many mystic examinations have been held here." Xia Fan finally concluded, "If the waiter is a local, then he should have experienced similar events."

Wei Wushuang didn't know how to react.

"Sirs, any matters?" The waiter arrived at their table as they chatted.

Xia Fan ordered more braised beef before changing the topic and pretended to ask ignorantly, "Oh right, how long have you been working at this teahouse?"

"I have been here since I was a child, more than ten years," replied the waiter cheerfully.

"The business is not as good usually, right?"

"You're right, it has been about five or six years since we were so busy."

"Were the customers people like us?" asked Wei Wushuang.

The waiter smiled but did not reply immediately.

Xia Fan was shocked. It seemed that he was very experienced… He coughed and pointed at his waist.

Wei Wushuang was stunned for a moment before he reacted and took out some silver from his pouch and placed them on the table.

The waiter immediately smiled and kept the silver swiftly. "It's around the same. I remember they were talking about the mystic examination, spells, and so on. However, I'm not sure about the details."

Wei Wushuang was instantly excited. "Do you know the details of the examination?"

The waiter kept quiet again.

Without a hint, Wei Wushuang shoved another silver into the waiter's hand.

"To be honest, I'm not sure," replied the waiter happily. "I don't dare to touch the things they mention. Moreover, they usually work at night and like to go to the mountains. Everyone avoids them, so nobody asks them about the details. If anyone knows, it should only be the few old hunters. I heard that someone asked them to be their guide in the past and they earned more than ten taels of silver a night."

Wei Wushuang was just about to take more silver out of his pouch when Xia Fan stopped him. "Alright, you can go back to work now."

"Alright!" replied the waiter.

"Hold on, I still want to…"

"Look around," interrupted Xia Fan.

Wei Wushuang then realized that a few tables had noticed the situation over at their table. Although they pretended to eat as normal, many people looked over at their table.

"Waiter, here, here!" A table of customers shouted immediately after the waiter turned around.

"Look, there's no use of spending all the money on this." Xia Fan popped a peanut into his mouth. "Since others are willing to spend the money, it's better to give the chance to them. As long as we can confirm that it's not the first time the mystic examination was conducted here, we can ask anyone. Moreover, if we can think about this, the Privy Council definitely did too. The invigilator didn't forbid us from communicating with the locals, which means that they have definitely made necessary actions to prevent the questions from being leaked in advance. If we ask too much, it may be disadvantageous for us."

Wei Wushuang frowned and thought about it before suddenly looking up. "You mean… Money?"

"Ten taels is not little, but not a lot too." Xia Fan nodded. According to the purchasing power of grain, one tael of silver in this era was equivalent to about 500 yuan. Ten taels of silver was a huge sum of money that he and his cheap master couldn't shell out, but it was insignificant for those from wealthy families. "There must be a reason why we can only carry this amount before entering the town. Didn't that person mention it just now? Hiring a local guide will require more than ten taels of silver, this is an amount that requires several people's contribution."

"This… is something I didn't think about." Wei Wushuang sighed after a while. "May I know which distinguished individual is your master?"

"Distinguished individual?" Xia Fan thought about his middle-aged cheap master. "He can't even get enough money to pay for the mystic examination and needs me to pay for it first, do you have some misconceptions about distinguished individuals?"

"However, your insight really impresses me. I grew up in a business store and I would consider myself very sensitive to money. However, I'm nowhere near your level," said Wei Wushuang, impressed. "If not because of your master, you must have ventured to many places before."

Xia Fan wanted to laugh. He had indeed stayed at many places with his cheap master. However, that wasn't considered a venture, it was more like aimless wandering.

If he counted the two life experiences, it would be even more.

Of course, he wouldn't say this to Wei Wushuang.

Besides that, the teahouse wasn't the only strange thing.

For example, the locals' reactions.

There were at most 200 residents in Qing Shan Town, but there were more than 400 candidates. If a large group of outsiders entered the sealed area, the locals would definitely feel threatened and defensive. However, after strolling about, he realized that the locals were reacting extremely naturally and went about as usual. They even greeted the candidates, as though… they were already used to this.

"Your family does business?"

"The Big Bowl Grain Shop is owned by my family," replied Wei Wushuang.

"Pfft." Xia Fan nearly choked on his tea. Wasn't that the most popular rice shop in Feng Hua County? Moreover, they would occasionally give out porridge to the needy, and his master would take advantage of it. Those who were able to open a shop in the Qi Country were definitely not ordinary vendors.

"You saw our shop before?"

Of course, he did, it was located in the central area of the county. Xia Fan rolled his eyes at Wei Wushuang and regarded him as an enemy of the bourgeoisie class. "Hmm, yes."

"Hehe, after the mystic examination, I will treat brother Xia to a good meal in Feng Hua County."

"It's okay, this is enough." Xia Fan stood up and made a gesture. "Thank you very much."

"… Hold, hold on." Wei Wushuang nearly couldn't react to that. "You're unwilling to…"

"Work with you?" Xia Fan shook his head. "You're absolutely right, the wealthy people definitely have a huge advantage over us. Even if we're able to pass the mystic examination, we'll not rank high. Therefore, for you, the best choice would be to purposely fail. There's not much impact on you even if you don't get in the Privy Council. If you fail, your father shouldn't have much to say as well. After returning to Feng Hua County, you're still the second master in your house and won't need to worry about living. At least, it would be better than being assigned to a random town and dying from the spells.

"So, quickly head home…" Xia Fan waved his hand at this point and said, "Isn't it good to be a rich second-generation with a dull and boring life?"

Xia Fan could tell that he didn't have the determination to pass the examination.

Wei Wushuang's face flushed red.

There was a moment Xia Fan thought Wei Wushuang would rage and scold him. However, Wei Wushuang endured it eventually.

That wasn't common. Xia Fan praised him in his heart. Boys of 15 to 16 years old emphasized the most on self-esteem. They could lose everything but their esteem. To put it bluntly, they liked to act brave and pay attention to too many unnecessary details. However, Wei Wushuang managed to figure out what Xia Fan was thinking amidst all of these.

After a while, he said, "What about you? It will be hard for you to get a good placing too, aren't you scared?"

"Who said so? I care a lot about my life."

"Then, why…"

"Because of ignorance." Xia Fan sighed slightly.

"Ignorance?" Wei Wushuang was shocked. He couldn't associate the word "ignorance" with Xia Fan.

Because he was ignorant about the new world, he wanted to find out more. Xia Fan knew that the sense of dissonance in his heart came from the opposition between reality and common sense, from the feedback of an unfamiliar environment. If he was just an ordinary person, that would be alright. However, he had the talent, and paying the debts for his cheap master was just an excuse. Even without that, he would eventually make the move. The Privy Council was undoubtedly an ideal platform.

Moreover, for someone who had received systematic education, seeking knowledge and understanding had become an instinct engraved into his soul.

However, even if he said all of these, nobody in this world would understand it.

He waved his hand and turned to walk out.