"Wait! We haven't gone in yet."
Too late!
Once the gates of the examination hall were closed, they would not open again for two days.
Two students were driven away by the constables outside the examination hall, who stopped them from shouting and disturbing the scholars inside.
But how could the two men possibly leave?
They had been framed, drugged with a sleeping powder, and had woken up to find it was already broad daylight.
It was only when a waiter at the inn, thinking they had already entered the examination hall, went to clean their room that he found them sleeping like logs and woke them up.
They didn't even have time to put on their shoes. They just threw their clothes on, grabbed their exam baskets, and ran.
They fell on the road, their baskets overturning and spilling their contents, but they had no time to pick anything up. Yet even after running with all their might, they were still a step too late.
They were late. They couldn't get into the examination hall!
