In the dead of night, Mu Zhenzhen turned on the oil lamp with a bamboo stick and sat under the lamp to read "Zuo Zhuan". If he didn't know the words, he would write them on a piece of bamboo paper with a goose quill. Tomorrow, he would ask Miss Ruobi for advice.
The pen was made by the young master. A few days ago, some people who had been bullied by Yao Fu sent a dozen geese and ducks. The young master made several quill pens with the hard feathers of goose wings. Although the writing was hard and wooden, the pen was made by the young master.
Yes, but it was convenient to read a few pages of the book and feel a little sleepy. Mu Zhenzhen got up and stood by the patio outside the door for a while. The rectangular patio separated a long night sky, and the crescent moon hung like a hook in the northwest of the patio.
In the corner, lights shine from the three rooms on the south floor. If you listen carefully, you can hear the wife and the eldest lady talking in low voices.
Returning to the young master's bedroom, Wu Ling snored slightly on the small couch in the outer room, but the young master inside was silent. Mu Zhen really thought that there was a slight snore when the young master fell asleep. Could it be that the young master was not asleep?
Just as he was thinking about this, he heard the young master say: "Zhenzhen, come and light the lamp." Mu Zhenzhen took the celadon lamp and entered the inner room, lit the lamp next to the young master's bed, spread the light, and blackened the room.
The lacquered gold bed curtains were drooped, and the young master was still on the bed. Mu Zhenzhen asked: "Master, can't you sleep?" "I slept for a while before." Zhang Yuan got out of the bed and put on his shoes with his hair disheveled. Mu Zhenzhen asked
He quickly stepped forward and hooked the tent to both sides.
Zhang Yuan asked: "Have you beaten three drums already?"
Mu Zhenzhen responded: "Yes, I just knocked it.
Zhang Yuan said: "Then I'll get up. I can't sleep anyway, so I have to call Xi Zhang's eldest brother later." Zhang Yuan put on Qingjin Confucian clothes, and Mu Zhenzhen combed his hair, tied it into a bun, and put on a net scarf.
, Zhang Yuan rubbed the net scarf and said with a smile: "It's really well combed, and the head is tight. Men have three tightnesses, the head is tight, the waist is tight, and the feet are tight."
Suddenly I heard someone shouting from the back garden: "Meson-Meson"
Zhang Yuan said: "It's the big fu in Xizhang." He got up and went to the back garden. Under the faint moonlight, he saw several people standing outside the demolished wall with tall lanterns. This area was in
The foundation of the house was piled with bluestone and sand, making it difficult to walk at night.
Mu Zhenzhen quickly walked over and opened the small door of the back garden. Zhang Dai, Zhang E and several servants came in. Zhang Dai smiled and said: "Can't Jiezi sleep? I haven't slept all night either. I'm with Yan Ke and Mr. Fan."
They played chess and juggled pieces."
Zhang Yuanzuo bowed his head and said, "Thank you, brother, for your hard work."
Zhang E said: "Why don't Jiezi thank me? I have worked harder."
Zhang Yuan said with a smile: "Yes, the three brothers have worked hard too." The three brothers walked around from the well to the front hall and sat down. Mu Zhenzhen and Tuting brought tea, Cui Gu and the two servants in the kitchen
Fu was already making meat-filled dishes, and Zhang Yuan asked him to make more. The eldest brother and the third brother wanted to eat together here.
Zhang Dai told some interesting stories about how he took the government examination a few years ago. At that time, he was only eleven years old. He was carried to the examination room by a healthy servant and chatted for a while. Shi Shuang came over and invited the three young masters to have a meal in the small hall next door.
After finishing the meal, I heard the four drums played by the Qiaolou. The Fuxue Palace not far away was already noisy. The mountain was dark. Three thousand examination-taking scholars from Kuaiji and two counties were about to enter the examination shed. At this time, Wuling also
He came out carrying a long-eared bamboo basket. There were pens, ink, paper, inkstones, a porcelain bottle of water and a stack of sumi cakes in the long-eared bamboo basket. They were the same things that Zhang Yuan prepared when he took the county examination last time. He entered the inner courtyard one by one.
He told his mother and sister, and took Wu Ling, his eldest brother Zhang Dai, and his third brother Zhang E out together. Zhang E came to watch the fun.
The crescent moon had already set over Longshan in the west, and the sky was dark. Shi Shuang and Mu Jingyan each carried a tall lantern for lighting. They came to the examination shed in the north of Fuxue Palace to see countless senior students.
The foot lanterns are shining brightly, brighter than the stars in the sky, and more lively than the Lantern Festival. These lanterns are strange in shape, and most of them have eye-catching characters written on them. Some have the names of places, some have the names of the private school teachers, and some have the names of Lin Bao, so that the lost scholars can see them.
Gathering together again under the lamp, the examination booth for the Shaoxing Prefectural Examination is larger than the one for the Shanyin County Examination. It can accommodate more than 3,000 people taking the exam at the same time. The examination room has five main halls, a pavilion in front and a banquet room next to it.
, there are eleven rooms on each side of the east and west sides, three concierges and three soap rooms. The examination shed for the government examination is a temporary yamen where the academic officer is appointed to visit each government. The annual and scientific examinations presided over by the academic officer are also in this examination shed.
There is a gate on each side, and there is a courtyard inside the gate, where the Confucian students who are taking the exam gather and wait for the roll call. Passing through the mainland courtyard to the north is the entrance hall. Xu Shijin, the prefect of Shaoxing, sits in the lobby and the roll call is made.
After receiving the examination papers from the subordinate staff, he went to the inspection office and waited for a moment. Zhang Yuan's name was reported. Zhang Yuan stepped forward and saluted Xu Zhifu with folded hands. Xu Zhifu nodded with a smile and said: "Zhang Yuan, I am
Waiting to see your ink paper, go and get the test paper." Zhang Yuan received the test paper, waved to Zhang Dai, Zhang E and others, and carried the test basket alone to the inspection office to wait for inspection. The inspection here is much better than
The county examination must be stricter. Not only do you have to take off your clothes and shoes, but you also have to undo your hair bun. After such an inspection, the scholar-boys who are taking the examination are disheveled, their hair is disheveled, and they are holding the examination basket and wrestling with their shoes in panic.
Like a thief, this is definitely an insult to politeness. People who take this kind of exam a few times will become obscene, and it is difficult to speak generously about integrity. No wonder there were so few officials when the Ming Dynasty fell. But it turns out that the integrity of literati has improved again and again.
I was wiped out in a scientific examination, but there is nothing I can do about it. Cheating in the examination hall is common and there are many kinds of tricks. It is not possible without strict inspection. It is unfair to other candidates to condone cheating, so I have to treat everyone equally and treat all the students equally.
Candidates are treated as thieves - "I hope I can pass the government examination, college examination, provincial examination, and joint examination in one go. I shouldn't take off my clothes during the palace examination."
With Zhang Yuan thinking like this, he unfastened his belt, took off his shoes, and took off his net scarf and was about to untie his bun when the Yaxu who was in charge of the inspection said: "No need, Mr. Zhang can enter." Zhang Yuan thought to himself:
"This Yaxu recognizes me. It's good. I'll sort out the trouble by myself after untiing my bun." He nodded to the Yaxu and put on his net scarf. On the side, a scholar boy was tying his loose hair into a knot and stuffing it into his hat.
, seeing that Zhang Yuan was puzzled, he shouted "unfair". The Yaxu shouted: "What injustice? This Mr. Zhang is the head of the trial case in Shanyin County, are you?"
The scholar suddenly shivered and muttered: "Can the head of the case not be searched? Where is the rule?" Although Zhang Yuan only did not untie his bun, he still felt much better. Everyone loves privileges.
, fastened his belt, carried the examination basket and entered, he heard the subordinate behind him shout loudly: "Take your seat according to the number, no jockeying for seats is allowed."
Zhang Yuan thought to himself: "Isn't it allowed to fight for seats in the government examination?" He picked up the examination paper from the examination basket and looked at the lantern at the dragon gate to read "Zhentang Huanhao Gengshen A Seat".
The examination booths in Shaoxing Prefecture are arranged in a Bagua shape. There are eight halls in total. Each hall can accommodate 400 people. They are divided into four area codes: east, west, north and south. Zhang Yuan found the south number of Zhentang, and found the Gengshen seat on the rows of long tables.
, because there are one hundred seats in the south, which is more than sixty years old, so each seat is divided into A and B. There is already someone in seat B, an old scholar with gray beard. Seeing Zhang Yuan, he bowed his hand politely and returned.
The edges moved slightly.
Zhang Yuan sat down on a long bench and heard a "creak" sound. These tables and benches were purchased by workers, and they had to cut corners. The boards were thin and the workmanship was rough. Moreover, the tables and stools in each row were all made of bamboo strips.
We are together, even if we want to move some of them away, if one person moves, the entire row of tables and chairs will move. The examination room of this government examination is not as good as the Shanyin County examination.
The huge Zhentang examination booth, which can accommodate 400 people, only has one lantern hanging one behind the other. The disheveled candidates are entering one after another, looking like ghosts in the darkness. Fortunately, the sky has gradually brightened, waiting for the candidates
After everyone was basically there, it was daybreak, and a guard took the lantern away.
The examinees were crowded and the seats were narrow. The table in front of each person could only be divided into two feet, which was just enough to hold an inkstone and examination papers. Zhang Yuan took it easy as he came, closed his eyes and calmed down, waiting for the dragon gate to close.
About a moment later, a "ding-ding" sound was heard, the gantry was closed and locked, and the Zhentang examination booth became quiet for an instant, with everyone holding their breath and concentrating, waiting for the master of the palace to give the question.
After another moment, a clerk entered the Zhentang examination booth, followed by a guard. The guard held up a question board. All the candidates stood up and stretched their heads and necks to read the questions, shouting: "The first question is"
"Zhao Meng's Place"
Zhang Yuan had poor eyesight and could not see the inscription clearly from a distance. When he heard the title "Zhao Meng's place," he thought to himself: "This is a sentence from Mencius. It can be regarded as a truncated title. The original sentence is "Zhao Meng's place is precious, Zhao Meng can."
"Jianzhi" means being noble outside oneself, not happy with gains, and not worried about losses."
Zhang Yuan was just thinking about this "Zhao Meng's place" when he heard the scholar boy sitting next to him report again: "The second question is "A gentleman is a metaphor for righteousness."
When Zhang Yuan heard this, he was greatly surprised. This was exactly the topic Wang Yingzi planned that day. "A gentleman is a metaphor for righteousness, a villain is a metaphor for profit." It comes from "The Analects of Confucius". Haha, is it so easy to plagiarize the topic? Scientific examination
There are only punishments for cheating behaviors such as cheating, taking exams on behalf of others, and leaking test questions in advance, but there is nothing that can be done about the preparation of test questions. The invigilator read out the two questions on the Four Books again and asked the scholars if they heard the questions clearly.
All the Confucian scholars said, "I heard you clearly," but one candidate shouted: ... A gentleman is a man of justice, so that's all. "Zhao Meng said, this question is too difficult. It is more difficult than the previous two questions. It's not fair."
Because there were too many candidates in the Shaoxing Prefectural Examination, there was no way to take the exam at the same time. They had to take the exam separately. However, the same questions cannot be used in the separate exams, and if the questions are different, it is easy to be accused of unfairness. Other candidates in the hall listened.
When the examinee yelled like this, they also started to complain about the unfairness of the questions. The invigilator shouted: "The three exams all have questions from four books, and they are all cut-off questions. What's unfair? Anyone who says it's unfair will stand up and I will take him there."
I'll see Mr. Fu and ask him to give him another question. Who should come forward?"
Naturally, no one dares to stand up. Whoever stands up will be unlucky and will definitely be disqualified from the examination and removed from the examination room.
For a while, there was the sound of grinding ink, unrolling papers, and small complaints, and the exam went smoothly.
Although the monthly ticket does not reach 500 votes,!