At the dinner table, the group avoided discussing the exam itself, instead sharing amusing stories from the examination hall.
De'an said the candidate in the cell next to him must have been one of those pampered scholars, completely useless at practical matters. He couldn't even start a fire. In his frustration, he threw his fire starter right into the water bucket and ended up spending the next few days in complete darkness.
But when the temperature dropped significantly during the last two days, the candidate couldn't handle it. In the latter half of the exam, he came down with a terrible case of diarrhea…
At that, the others quickly cut him off, forbidding De'an from saying another word.
Huang Chen said that a candidate to his right was a sleepwalker. He was asleep one night when he was jolted awake by a constable's angry shout, "Who's wandering around?"
