At the examination venue in No. 66 High School.
In the cla.s.sroom farthest on the left on the second floor.
Zhang Ye was seated at a table in the fifth row near the windows. He got out his stationery and then closed his eyes to focus and prepare himself for the exam, not affected by the large crowd of examinees who were all staring at him.
A female examinee gathered up her courage and walked over to him. "Teacher Zhang, could I get your autograph?"
Zhang Ye opened his eyes and smiled. "Sure."
"Really? Thank you so much!" The female examinee was thrilled, then quickly handed him her notebook.
Behind her, the other examinees also rushed forward to him when they saw this!
"I want it too, I want it too!"
"Teacher Zhang, can I get your autograph as well!?"
"I especially like those poems of yours!"
Zhang Ye did not refuse anyone who asked and signed for them one by one, thanking them at the same time. "Thank you for your love for me."
At this moment, two exam proctors walked in and nearly fainted when they saw what was happening. They said, "Everyone, quiet down. What do you think you"re doing? Return to your seats. We"ll be starting the exam soon."
Only then did the examinees settle down and return to their seats.
The first paper in the morning tested the comprehensive knowledge topics, including but not limited to: jurisprudence, const.i.tution, economic law, international law, international private law, international economic law, legal ethics, and professional responsibility. All of them were multiple choice questions.
Very quickly, the exams were handed out.
Zhang Ye immediately started answering the questions. He scanned through the first question: A. Then, the second question: D. Then, the third question: D. His speed of answering was extremely fast, as if he did not even need to think. Looking at the questions, the answers appeared in his mind almost immediately, which he marked on the answer sheet.
Before noon.
The first test ended.
When the exams had been submitted, the examinees began chattering.
"It"s too difficult!"
"What"s the matter with the questions this year!"
"They made it so difficult! It"s like they"re purposely trying to rip us off!"
An examinee seated beside Zhang Ye asked him, "Teacher Zhang, how did you do?"
Zhang Ye replied, "It went fine."
That examinee did not believe him. "This test was really difficult, so even if you can"t pa.s.s the exam, it"s not a big deal. Even those of us who are in the legal profession and studies are not likely to do well on this test. I think the first test has already eliminated many of our chances of qualifying for the law license!"
Later that afternoon.
The second test began.
The second paper tested the criminal and administrative justice system. It included topics such as: criminal law, criminal procedural law, administrative law, and administrative procedural law. It too was multiple choice.
Zhang Ye answered the questions rapidly like it was routine for him, and except for a few questions that made him think a bit, the other questions were all answered without any hesitation. He could basically find a "template" of all the questions in his memory, whether it was just a simple legal provision or a case study that had appeared in the books he had flipped through.
A few hours later, the second test was handed in.
"The second test was OK."
"Yeah, the difficulty was average."
"Is that so? Why did I feel that it was very difficult!"
"I feel the same, but it was still much easier than the first test."
"Hai, this time, the odds are totally against us!"
"Tomorrow"s still an exam day, so let"s work hard and do well, everyone!"
After leaving the examination venue, Zhang Ye did not go home. Instead, he checked into a hotel in the vicinity of Capital Library and went to the library to "charge up" on even more knowledge.
The next day.
The third test started.
It was still a multiple choice format test, this one on the civil and commercial legal systems. It included topics like: civil law, commercial law, and civil procedural law (arbitration system).
In the afternoon, it was time for the fourth test, but this time the format was no longer multiple choice, but example case study questions. It included a mix of the topics tested previously: criminal law, criminal procedural law, civil law, civil procedural law, administrative law, and administrative procedural law. This was also the most difficult test in the Judicial Exam, and whether one could pa.s.s or pull ahead from the others would all depend on how well they did on this test. But what gave the examinees a great headache was that this year"s fourth test was of an extremely difficult level. There were many case studies listed in it that were not common and were greatly disputed. This raised the difficulty level severalfold!
When the last test finished, complaints by the examinees were heard everywhere!
"What the heck was that!"
"They"re purposely trying to fail us!"
"That was way too difficult!"
"I was getting dizzy going through that test!"
"The pa.s.s rate was 9% last year? I think it will be good if we hit 5% this year! I think that might not even happen. Perhaps 4%? 3%?"
"I"m numb. Looks like I have to come back next year!"
As he walked out of the examination venue, Zhang Ye could hear the people around him complaining. He blinked his eyes at that, not having much of an opinion on the difficulty of the exam. It wasn"t that he felt that the exam was too easy, just that he did not have a concept of the difficulty. After all, he did not have any foundation and experience in law before this, and had not taken law exams before, so he did not know what would be considered easy or difficult.
He returned home.
His parents had already prepared dinner and were waiting for him.
His mother asked unconcerned, "You"re back? How was the exam?"
Zhang Ye chuckled. "It was fine."
His mother pursed her lips and said, "Oh come on, quit your bragging. If you screwed it up, so be it. What"s the big deal about that. Your dad and I already heard about it, that this year"s Judicial Exam was especially difficult."
Zhang Ye rolled his eyes at her. "What do you mean I"m bragging? I really think I did alright."
His father waved him off. "Just come and eat dinner. Take Chenchen to wash her hands first."
Then his mother mentioned, "There are a lot of people making predictions about what your score for the exam will be."
"Really? I"ll take a look afterward." Zhang Ye took Chenchen to wash her hands and then ate dinner. After dinner, he went back to his room and turned on his computer to browse the Internet.
If he didn"t check, it would have been fine, but when he saw it, he nearly vomited blood! That Old Yao! He even created a poll for the prediction of my scores? Old Chen and Old Fan also joined in on the fun?! I"ll score 0 points? d.a.m.n you all, why don"t you all just go to h.e.l.l! Aren"t you all looking down too much on this bro?! You people really don"t know a treasure even if it"s placed in front of you!
Zhang Ye immediately logged into Weibo and posted an "angry" emoticon!
The netizens were all tickled!
"Ahahahaha!"
"Zhang Ye has appeared!"
"How funny! Director Zhang has been totally trampled over!"
"Teacher Zhang, are you done with the exam already?"
"I suppose Teacher Zhang has already been brought to tears by this year"s Judicial Exam!"
Yao Jiancai came online very quickly and posted on Weibo: "How many points did you get, old bro? I wonder why you chose to go and make a fool of yourself instead of concentrating on you main occupation."
Zhang Ye: "…"
Chen Guang was all laughs. "Old Fan and I made a bet on how many points you"d score. I bet on you scoring below 50, my wife bet that you"d get below 100. The loser will have to do the dishes for an entire month."
Grandma Zhang Xia also posted: "Little Zhang has always given people the impression that he is amazing at everything he does. Look like we can finally witness this kid becoming the joke this time. It feels like so much fun, hur hur."
Zhang Ye: "…"
Many of his celebrity friends had come to make fun of him!
Even the veteran songstress, Grandma Zhang Xia, came to rib him a little!
Zhang Ye constantly rolled his eyes, and thought, Great! You guys are great! Everyone is waiting for me to make a fool of myself? You guys are so mean! Hey, this is incredibly infuriating!
At the same time online, a number of news articles were published.
"Zhang Ye laughed at by a mult.i.tude of celebrities!"
"This year"s National Judicial Examination will be the blemish of Zhang Ye"s life!"
"The Judicial Exam says to Zhang Ye: See you again next year."
"Just how difficult was this year"s National Judicial Examination? Famed host Zhang Ye leaves examination venue in tears!"
When Zhang Ye read that, he nearly fainted from anger. When the heck did I leave the examination venue in tears? In tears your sister! Are you guys organizing mobs to come ridicule me!?
Hmph, just you wait!
We"ll see who gets the last laugh when the results are released!
There was another point about this world"s National Judicial Examination that was different from his previous world. This world had a greater focus on the judicial examination. They dedicated large amounts of human resources into organizing it, allowing there to be almost no waiting period between registration and the sitting of the examination. This turnaround time was only five days. Then there was the a.s.sessment of the exams. Since the first three tests were multiple choice, they could be automatically marked by machine. It wouldn"t take long at all. As for the fourth test, they employed a large number of judiciary professors and a.s.sistants to handle the grading. It was similar to the college entrance exam in which the wait for the outcome and results did not take a long time.
A few days later.
The ridiculing online still continued.
"Why isn"t Teacher Zhang coming online anymore?"
"Do you need to ask? Hehe, it must be because he"s too embarra.s.sed by the fact that he didn"t do well on the Judicial Exam!"
"Teacher Zhang, it"s not a big deal. You have to hang on!"
"Yeah, Teacher Zhang, don"t be beaten down by these difficulties! You can do it, you can do it for sure next year!"
"Come out, Teacher Zhang. We won"t laugh at you, I promise, hahahaha!"
"Previous poster, your laughter has betrayed you!"
"Hey hey hey, you guys are being too inhumane here. Teacher Zhang has failed at the Judicial Exam and is already feeling very down. Why are you all still gloating over it!"
"We hardly get to see Zhang Ye mess up. This opportunity doesn"t come by easily!"
"Pfft, I really wish to know right now how much Teacher Zhang scored on the Judicial Exam. The results should be released soon, right?"
For the past few days, an atmosphere of ridiculing Zhang Ye had been building up, whether it be the media, fellow celebrities, or netizens. Everyone partook in this ridiculing. Zhang Ye was the b.u.t.t of everyone"s jokes!
But on this day, when many people were still laughing and making fun of Zhang Ye on Weibo and the forums, the National Judicial Examination results were released!
"Wow!"
"It"s released, it"s released!"
"They"ve published the list of examinees who pa.s.sed!"
"Quickly go and take a look!"
"I"ve waited so long for this!"
In an instant, countless people flocked to check the results!
"What? The pa.s.s rate is that low?"
"Aiyo, why did most of them only get 100-200 points? That"s far too low!"
"The Judicial Exam this year was really difficult! They couldn"t do anything about that!"
"I think this pa.s.s rate is not even 4%, right?"
"Where"s Zhang Ye? What"s Zhang Ye"s score?"
"I don"t know, I can"t find it!"
"Eh, there were three people who scored 0 in the entire country. I presume that they did not even attempt the exam? But why isn"t Zhang Ye one of them? This doesn"t make sense! It completely and utterly doesn"t make sense!"
"Huh, Zhang Ye"s name is not among those who scored below a hundred points either?"
"It"s not there either."
"Whoa, Teacher Zhang"s not bad. This means that he scored over a hundred, right?"
"Haha, in the case of Teacher Zhang, scoring above a hundred is already considered quite good!"
Suddenly, someone exclaimed: "Oh f**k, you guys. Come and look at this quickly!"
Someone asked: "Look at what?"
That person said: "Look at Zhang Ye"s score, what else!!"
A netizen said, "But we haven"t found his name yet! Where is it?"
The person said: "Why are you"re looking from the bottom! Start from the top of the list! Hurry!"
"The top?"
"Why would we be looking at the top?"
"Yeah, it"s not like he can score that high, right?"
But as it turned out, when the countless netizens and Zhang Ye"s celebrity fans rushed over to check, when they had a look, everyone was so shocked by what they saw their jaws dropped!
The National Judicial Examination results list.
First place: Zhang Ye!
c.u.mulative score…600 points!!