Tang Ning returned to Zhong Mansion just in time for dinner.
The meals these days have been extraordinarily rich. Chen Yuxian saw him coming in and said, "Ning'er, let someone go to the county office to ask your father-in-law to come back for dinner. What time has it been? Is he busy and forgetting..."
No servants were seen in the yard. The county government office was just a few steps away from the Zhong Mansion, so Tang Ning simply went there by herself.
Nghe An County Government.
Zhong Mingli looked at the official in front of him and said in surprise: "Master Chen, what's the matter when you come here this time?"
Disciples are the officials of the state school, who manage the education affairs of a state. Now that the state examination is approaching, although the main examiner and fellow examiners are sent from the capital, the officials of the state school also have to play a very important supporting role. They should not
That's how leisurely it is.
The middle-aged official looked at him and said with a smile: "I am here for Mr. Zhong Fu."
A trace of doubt appeared on Zhong Mingli's face, and he asked, "What's the matter? Director Chen Xun just said it's okay."
"Lord Zhong also knows that businessmen, prostitutes, untouchables, etc. cannot participate in the imperial examination." Chen Xundao looked at Zhong Mingli and said: "There is also a stipulation in the "Chen Code" that anyone who has a son-in-law cannot participate in the imperial examination.
It was only when the officials checked the candidates' place of origin that they noticed that Tang Ning's identity was different from before. He acted according to the law. I hope Mr. Zhong won't mind..."
"Mr. Chen's official business is business, so of course I won't mind." Zhong Mingli nodded, and suddenly asked: "But who did Mr. Chen listen to about Ning'er's son-in-law's identity?"
Director Chen Xun said in surprise: "Isn't he living in Zhongfu?"
"If you live in the Zhong Mansion, you are a son-in-law?" Zhong Mingli turned around and said to a government servant: "Go and get the household registration of my uncle and my lady."
After a while, Chen Xundao read the household registrations of the two people and confirmed that Tang Ning's household registration had not been transferred to the Zhong family, but that Zhong Yi's household registration had been transferred to a new household. He bowed his hand to Zhong Mingli and said, "I have caused trouble to Mr. Zhong...
"
Zhong Mingli smiled, returned his hand and said, "Mr. Chen, you are so polite..."
After sending Director Chen off, he looked at Tangning who was standing at the entrance of the courtyard and asked, "When did you come here?"
"I just came here for a while." Tangning looked at him and said, "Lunch is ready. My mother-in-law asked me to come over and ask you to go back for dinner..."
"I'm going back." Zhong Mingli nodded, took two steps, and then stopped.
He did not look back, put his hands behind his back, and said calmly: "Prepare for the exam with peace of mind. I will take care of other matters..."
…
Although my father-in-law is known as the "cold-faced king of hell", he almost never shows a smile except when he pats his mother-in-law's back and squeezes her shoulders.
But Tang Ning knew that he was actually cold-faced and warm-hearted. Many times, things they didn't feel didn't happen, but were blocked by him.
Just like today.
At the dinner table, Chen Yuxian habitually picked up food for Tang Ning and said, "Studying is very tiring. Ning'er needs to eat more these days. Fortunately, the prefectural exams only last for one day. When the provincial exams come, she will have to take the test in the morning."
If you stay in the dormitory for three days and two nights, you will definitely not be able to eat or sleep well..."
Since she decided to take the state examination, Tang Ning's treatment has skyrocketed.
The meals on the table are almost all what he likes to eat, and they are much richer than before.
Knowing that he gets hungry easily while reading, Zhong Yi and Xiao Ru would bring him food several times a day. Even when Tang Yaoyao was free, they would climb over the wall and bring some pastries and meals.
The most incredible thing to him was that Fang Xiaopang was actually willing to give him all her snacks, even though she had also said that after Tangning's exam was over, she would treat her to lots of delicious food as repayment...
It seemed like there was only one thing left in his world.
State exam.
Although I have already had the experience of taking the college entrance examination and the postgraduate entrance examination, in terms of difficulty, these two are far from comparable to the imperial examination.
Fortunately, Chen Guo’s imperial examination did not test the eight-legged essay.
Of course, even if the eight-part essay had not yet appeared, the imperial examination had developed some routines and formulas over the years. Tang Ning's time was limited, so in terms of writing ability, she could not compare with people of this era.
Although he can understand these things, he cannot write them. This cannot be learned in a short time.
Fortunately, there are three state exams. To put it into perspective, writing is only tested in the third exam.
The first comprehensive test involves classic meaning, law, arithmetic, etc. This test covers a wide range of topics, but most of them are objective questions, mostly fill-in-the-blank and short-answer questions. The answers are fixed and there is not much free play.
place.
In the second poetry test, according to the practice of previous years, it is usually one word per poem, with a prescribed rhyme or theme, and other candidates can freely express themselves. In this test, if Tang Ning cannot write it, he can copy it.
The third test was on policy theory, which was Tang Ning's shortcoming.
It's not because he doesn't understand. He has rich historical experience and policy analysis is not a problem, but he can't write beautiful articles.
However, he also knows some general routines. If he can pass the first two games smoothly, he should not be eliminated in the third game...
These days, he does nothing but read every day, and the time will soon enter September.
On the ninth day of September, the first state examination.
Tang Ning had already gotten up before dawn. When she opened the door, she found Zhong Yi and Su Ru already in the yard.
Zhong Yi handed him a small bundle and said: "You are not allowed to bring pens and ink for the state examination. I have already sorted out the things you need to prepare and put them inside. Don't forget it."
Su Ru handed over a food box and said, "I made some pastries that you like to eat. Brother Xiao Ning will take them with you and eat them at noon."
The state examination is a relatively strict examination, and no pen or ink is allowed. All Tang Ning needs to bring is something to prove her identity and a meal.
The examination location is the Gongyuan outside the city. Lingzhou Gongyuan can accommodate nearly 5,000 students from three states, and admission must be checked very early.
Tang Ning took the things prepared by Zhong Yi and Su Ru, and put away the peace charm that Tang Yaoyao had climbed over the wall to give him last night. When he walked out of Zhong Mansion, Peng Chen was already waiting for him beside the carriage.
He got on the carriage, waved to Zhong Yi and Su Ru who were standing at the door, and said with a smile: "Wait until I come back."
When there was still a long distance from Gongyuan, carriages were not allowed to pass. Tangning got off the carriage and walked over.
In front of Gongyuan, there was a large and dark group of people. This kind of battle was not much different from the college entrance examination in the previous life.
He lined up to enter, and after a rigorous search, he got his seat number and found the examination room.
It was Tangning's first time to experience this kind of exam where one person was in one exam room. The space was a bit small, so it was okay to sit down, but it was a bit suffocating to lie down.
There was a pen, ink and inkstone in the dormitory. When the gong sounded, a guard handed out test papers and manuscript papers. Tang Ning checked them and found that there were no problems, so she started answering the questions directly.
The questions in the first exam were not difficult for him. It was equivalent to an open-book exam that defined the scope of the exam. Tangning had memorized all the content of the exam firmly in his mind for nearly a month.
It's nothing more than filling in the blanks, short answers, definitions of terms, supplementing legal regulations, and solving a few multivariate equations...
The question was not difficult, but it was very large. Tang Ning still had half of the question left to write, and it was already time for lunch.
He rubbed his sore wrist, put the test paper aside, and opened the food box. In order to prevent entrapment, the pastries made by Xiaoru had been cut open by them. Fortunately, the taste was not affected, and Xiaoru and Zhongyi's craftsmanship was not affected.
He said that Fairy Tang should study more...
His writing skills were slower than others, and he had limited time. After eating the cakes, Tangning didn't rest long and continued to answer questions.
I don’t know who wrote the test paper. There were so many questions. By the time he finished writing, the time was almost up.
After sorting out the test papers, not long after, the gong sounded again, indicating that the submission of papers could begin.
From the time the papers were handed in to the time the place was completely cleared, there was still an hour.
Tang Ning had finished answering all the questions and walked out of the Gongyuan with her things. Most of the candidates were still busy writing in their rooms, and many people walked out with him, but the expressions on their faces were different.
"Brother Shen, you came out so early. Have you finished answering the questions?"
"Whoever can finish this first exam won't be able to answer the remaining questions anyway. I just want to come out early so that I can have more time to prepare for the next exam..."
"Hey, I thought so too..."
"It's like this every year. Since no one can answer them all, why bother with so many questions..."
…
Tang Ning looked at them in surprise and thought to herself that few people usually finish this first exam. There are a lot of questions, but it's not difficult...
