Because there was only one exam a day, but it took five consecutive days, so Ling Yun could only stay in this small room during these five days, eating, drinking and sleeping here.
In this small room, there was no heating equipment, so Ling Yun either sighed and rubbed his hands, or put his hands into his sleeves to keep warm.
Although the examination questions appear to be about the Four Books and Five Classics, they are not actually the same.
Science and education flourished in the Daqian Dynasty, and I don’t know how many times the scientific examination took place. If it simply examines the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics, wouldn’t it mean that candidates can pass the county examination as long as they can recite and memorize the readings?
There are only a few books in the Four Books and Five Classics, and there is only so much content. It would not be difficult to simply excerpt a paragraph, but how could the county magistrate not understand what the examinee was thinking of?
Because in order to increase the difficulty, test questions are often taken from different fragments from the Four Books and Five Classics, and then mixed and matched.
That is, find a section from one book, take a section from another book, and combine the two to form a new test question.
This type of question naturally greatly increases the difficulty for candidates to answer the questions. Because of the intricate connections, if the candidate does not fully understand one of the books, or misunderstands the meaning of the sentence, or answers the wrong question, he will be directly dismissed by the examiner. .
It can be seen that the person who created the question really put a lot of effort into torturing the candidates!
There was no question bank in ancient times. These were test questions that the question makers thought about day and night. If you want to have similar question types, just daydream.
The county test questions may seem complicated, but in fact they are all set by the county magistrate based on his or her personal preferences.
If you are careful, it is not difficult to find that the question maker will always think of himself when setting the question. Often, because a certain passage in the book resonates, he will quote that passage as the test question.
Ling Yun did the questions smoothly at first, so he felt happy, and gradually got better, so that he could easily compose the following meanings of the scriptures after some hard thinking.
This must be due to many years of study, and Xu Linfu saw that he was smart and exchanged his experiences on the imperial examination with him early on.
During his rest time, he occasionally took him to attend some scholar-level gatherings. Over time, Ling Yun also accumulated some experience from his predecessors.
Therefore, the county examination is not difficult for Lingyun. Of course, the challenge this time is not the county examination, but the college examination, because that is the real imperial examination.
Only by passing the examination can one truly become a scholar.
The number of words in the examination article should not be less than 300 words, and should not be more than 700 words. Ling Yun had a gap in his heart, so he naturally answered quickly.
Until noon, a yamen servant handed in food at the narrow exit. This was lunch for the candidates.
The lunch delivered is not just to fill your stomach, but also to remind you that it is already lunch time, so you have to hurry up and do the questions.
Ling Yun looked at the food that was delivered. Overall, it was not satisfactory. The cold steamed buns were mixed with a portion of cold porridge and a small bowl of pickles.
Thanks to his careful selection, you can still see traces of minced meat in this small pickle.
Ling Yun was filled with emotion. Although there was little meat foam, it was still a little comfort to the candidates.
Although the food without temperature is not delicious, it can satisfy your hunger. You can't ask for more.
Ling Yun himself brought food to the venue, and brought some meatloaf, but it had already gone cold. The cold meatloaf was hard and there was no trace of that fragrant smell just out of the pan.
I have to mention here that candidates are very particular about the food they bring. For example, steamed buns and steamed buns are not allowed. Why is this?
In order to prevent people from carrying cheating papers in the food they carry, examiners prohibit some foods such as steamed buns that can carry paper slips.
Even the meat cakes brought in by Ling Yun would be broken into pieces by the search personnel when they came in.
Lunch was placed on the floor. Ling Yun put down the pen and put it aside to prevent the ink from dripping from the pen onto the test paper and causing waste paper.
Ling Yun breathed a sigh of relief, rubbed his frozen hands, put away the test paper, and put it aside flatly.
Ling Yun put the test paper aside and pressed it down with a small clean stone to prevent it from being blown away by the wind. He would have no place to cry.
Then after the ink on the pen dried, he put it away again.
After everything was done, Ling Yun stood up with difficulty and moved his body, but felt his hands and feet were a little numb.
After some activity and feeling a slight warmth in his body, Ling Yun rang the bell to signal that he had to go to the toilet.
Following the yamen servant, Ling Yun went to the toilet with great difficulty. His face was blue, there were a few tears in his eyes, and his mouth was bulging, as if he had been greatly wronged.
After returning to the dormitory, Ling Yun slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, then inhaled and exhaled in large gulps. This action continued for a long time.
Ling Yun, who had regained consciousness, hated himself for not being short-sighted so he could see everything so clearly. Those black, hard things made him feel sick to his stomach when he recalled them.
I had been holding my urine all morning, thinking about going to relieve myself and come back to eat. However, looking at the unpalatable food, I fell into deep self-doubt.
He finally understood Xu Linfu's sincere blessing, "I wish you will be away from bad names in the exams." When he asked what the bad names were, Xu Linfu just gave him a mysterious smile and said perfunctorily, "You will know when the time comes."
.
When Ling Yun heard this, he didn't take it seriously. At this time, he was still very grateful for his luck. Thank you!
He observed all the way to the toilet just now and found that the closer the people were to the toilet, the worse their spirits became and their faces turned pale.
He thought about whether the people sitting next to the smelly horn would be knocked out during these five days.
If it were him, I don't know if he could bear it.
As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly heard the patrolling yamen officer shouting, "There is something strange in the examination room." The sound was like a loud bell, which startled everyone, and some of the timid candidates even turned pale.
After a while, Ling Yun realized that it was the examinee sitting closest to the stinking number who had fainted.
After asking the boss for instructions, the yamen officials hurriedly carried the person out of the examination room for fear of affecting other candidates, but it was too late.
Ling Yun couldn't help but slap himself twice, it was really a crow's mouth.
Seeing someone being carried out, there was a commotion in the examination room. Although no one went out to look, there were still some bold people who stuck their heads out, looked around, and some even started whispering.
"Quiet, everyone is silenced. Anyone who violates this rule will be kicked out of the examination room." Seeing this, the boss of the government office immediately shouted loudly.
As soon as these words came out, those candidates who had their heads stretched out hurriedly retracted their heads, for fear that the government officials would find him and kick him out.
Fortunately, the law did not punish everyone, and the government officials kept their word and did not find people one by one. Everyone was relieved when they saw this.
Ling Yun had a habit of taking naps, but after this incident, he no longer felt sleepy.
After eating a few hasty meals to barely satisfy his hunger, Ling Yun began to concentrate on the topic again.
[Author's digression]: I would like to recommend a friend's excellent work "Ming Shang", which is also a historical fiction. Friends who are interested can read it.
This chapter has been completed!