On the ninth day of March, in Daliang City, Confucius Temple Street, which was originally relatively deserted, was now overcrowded.
Thousands of students who have traveled from all over the Wei State to Daliang at their own expense to take part in this year's exams are gathering on this temple street, waiting for the upcoming preliminary exams.
However, this is not all the candidates who took the examination this year. In addition to these, there are still thousands of candidates who have passed the examinations in various townships and are still studying hard in their respective residences and making their final efforts before the examination.
It’s no wonder, after all, for candidates, the General Examination is equivalent to the dragon gate. If you cross the dragon gate, your golden scales will turn into a dragon, and you will embark on an official career with a bright future.
Of course, on this temple street at the moment, not all candidates are candidates, there are also many vendors, salesmen, brokers, ruffians and the like.
Vendors and salesmen naturally come here to make a profit and sell some pastries and snacks to the Kaozi. After all, with the number of Kaozi on this temple street at the moment, as long as 10% of the Kaozi are willing to buy, then these vendors and salesmen will
They become developed.
As for the brokers, to be precise, these people are not brokers in the true sense, they can only be regarded as speculators. They specially select those candidates who are brightly dressed but obviously look worried, and secretly reveal that they have the ability to take this preliminary test.
Exam questions and defraud those students of their money.
However, once such a broker is discovered, the patrol outside the examination room will arrest him mercilessly.
As for some local ruffians, their nature is more complicated. Some of them come to join in the fun, while others want to see if there is a chance to pick a fat sheep from so many candidates and steal his wallet.
After all, in Wei State, about 70% of the scholars came from well-off or even wealthy families. Some poor civilians could not even fill their stomachs. How could they have spare money to study and write? You know, books are quite expensive, and some are even precious.
Books, without certain connections and status, there is no chance of contact.
At this time, in the side room of a restaurant facing the street, Chu Shuli, the chief minister of Daliang Mansion, Yang Yu, the young minister of Dali Temple, and Lieutenant Chi Fang, the chief arrest officer of the Supervisory Department of the Ministry of Punishment, were sitting at a table by the window, looking out the window.
That overcrowded Temple Street.
It's not that any major cases have happened in Daliang recently, they are just ordered to maintain order on Temple Street. After all, the Ministry of Rites does not have enough manpower to maintain order, so they can only borrow people from the three government offices of Daliang Mansion, Dali Temple, and the Ministry of Punishment.
It can be seen that the expressions of these three people are quite solemn.
It’s no wonder, after all, the exams are so grand. If something bad happens midway, it will be an indelible stain on their political performance. And more importantly, this year’s exams are still led by the solemn person.
His Highness Wang personally invigilated the exam as the chief proctor. If something happened in front of His Highness and he accidentally bumped into His Highness, Chu Shuli, Yang Yu, and Yu Chifang would not be able to apologize if they resigned from their posts.
"Huh?"
Just as these three men were staring at the temple street below with solemn expressions, Yang Yu, the young minister of Dali Temple, suddenly saw a carriage driving slowly over.
"Where did that carriage come from?" Yuchi Fang frowned and said, "I'm going to ask someone to order him to leave."
"Please wait a moment." Chu Shuli, the head of the Daliang Mansion, squinted his eyes and looked at the carriage with confusion.
To be precise, he was looking at the two men sitting in the groom's seat.
"Huh?" Yang Yu, the young minister of Dali Temple, said in surprise: "Aren't those the two guards of His Highness Prince Su, He Miao and Zhu Gui?"
After hearing this, Yuchi Fang's eyes widened, because he had almost sent someone to drive the carriage away just now.
"Your Highness Prince Su is here?" he asked in surprise.
Chu Shuli and Yang Yu said nothing with confusion on their faces, because they both could see clearly that the carriage was not the carriage of Prince Su's Mansion, but the strange thing was that the person driving the carriage was He Miao, the Zongwei next to Prince Su Zhao Hongrun.
With Zhu Gui.
Just when they were feeling confused, the carriage stopped about ten feet away from the Confucius Temple amid the complaints of some candidates. Immediately, a young scribe and a man stepped out of the carriage.
A woman in rich clothing.
"Could it be that you are taking the exam this year?"
"What is the relationship between this person and His Highness King Su?"
Chu Shuli and Yang Yu looked at the young scribe in confusion. They were surprised to find that the young scribe seemed to be being told something by the woman, so that he kept nodding and nodding, looking quite submissive.
The height contrast is so sharp that it looks a bit interesting.
"Want to go down and say hello?" Yu Chifang asked.
Chu Shuli and Yang Yu hesitated for a moment. Although His Highness King Su did not seem to be here, they went down to say hello to the two clan guards, He Miao and Zhu Gui. This was not considered condescension.
But thinking about it carefully, they gave up because the scribe was obviously here to take part in the examination. If the three of them went down to greet Zhu Gui and He Miao, they would inevitably be seen by many students present.
Not good for the scribe.
"Could this person be a retainer of Prince Su's Mansion?" Chu Shuli murmured, stroking his beard.
At this time, the chief catcher, Lieutenant Chi Fang, had clearly seen the face of the scribe, and his expression was a little strange.
Because he has recognized that the young scribe is clearly the Kaozi who was thrown into the prison of their Penal Department three years ago, Wenqi.
Although it was not Yuchifang who personally arrested Wenqi back then, Yuchifang paid attention to this matter after being thrown into the prison of the Ministry of Punishment. In the exam hall, idiots who cheat not for themselves but for others are always the ones who cheat.
It will make people curious.
"I don't know how the people from the Ministry of Rites reacted after seeing this person."
Touching his chin, Yuchifang looked at Wen Qi on Temple Street with interest.
At this time, Wen Qi was lowering his head uncomfortably. This was not because he felt the gazes of Chu Shuli, Yang Yu, and Yu Chifang, but because of the woman in front of him who was telling him all kinds of things.
The weird looks in the eyes of the many test takers around me - in front of everyone, being scolded repeatedly like a child by a woman who is much shorter than myself, this feeling is simply worse than death.
What made Wen Qi even more frightened was that he didn't seem to know how to restrain himself when facing that little woman. She kept asking him to get the top spot on the gold list, and his tone was quite relaxed, as if he would go to the market to buy it if he got the top spot.
Like cabbage.
Wenqi clearly felt that the doubtful glances of the surrounding students when they looked at him were gradually turning into hostility.
"Bitter!"
Wen Qi secretly complained, and he even regretted asking to participate in this meeting.
At this moment, several exclamations and noises came from not far away, finally attracting the hostile eyes around them.
Wen Qi turned his head and glanced curiously.
I saw on the other side of Temple Street, a dozen strong and powerful men walking towards here surrounded by two men.
One of the men was wearing gorgeous brocade clothes, fine fox velvet, a crown of pearls on his head, and a jade belt around his waist. The jade pendant hanging on his waist was crystal clear.
I remember that on the way here, Wen Qi saw many rich young men along the way, but compared with this person, those rich young men were immediately outcompeted. From the words of a certain Prince Su, this person's clothes,
He is so cool. This person's clothes are even more expensive than a certain Prince Su.
However, the scholar next to this man was only wearing a simple blue cloth robe, and the contrast between their clothes was extremely different.
These two people were none other than Jie Ziyu, who came to take part in the examination, and his sworn brother Wen Shaobo who accompanied him.
Just like Wen Qi just now, Jie Zizi also lowered his head at this time, with a look of embarrassment on his face.
It's no wonder, after all, the man who supported him, Mr. Wen Shaobo, was so arrogant that he called a dozen barbarian guards to protect him, so that along the way, the candidates looked at them with extremely strange eyes.
It makes meson owl feel embarrassed and ashamed.
Perhaps it was a coincidence that brothers Wen Shaobo and Jie Ziyu came to Wenqi and his party about two feet away.
"Human?"
Zongwei He Miao looked at Wen Shaobo and his party in surprise.
"They are slaves from Sanchuan, right?" Zhu Gui guessed, because he saw the marks on the faces of Wen Shaobo's barbarian guards. Although they were faded, they could still be seen if you looked closely.
After listening to Zhu Gui's words, He Miao looked at it carefully and then guessed: "It seems that he is a wealthy businessman who made a profit in Sanchuan."
The two of them were guessing in low voices when a cold snort came from beside Leng Buding, from Lord Lu'er, the family leader of Prince Su's Mansion.
It turned out that just a moment ago, Wen Shaobo did the same thing as Lu'er just now, patting Jie Zizi on the back to cheer up his sworn brother, encouraging him to strive for the top spot on the gold list.
When Lu'er heard this, she immediately became unhappy.
He originally had a lot of dislike for Mr. Wen because the clothes he wore were so coquettish, as if he wanted to let everyone in the world know how rich he was. This was simply treason in Lu'er's eyes - her family
His Highness Prince Su’s clothes are not so valuable!
Thinking of this, Lu'er snorted coldly and said to Wen Qi: "Zhao Qi (pseudonym of Wen Qi), are you going to take the exam carefully this time? You must get the first place... How can you compare to some people who are making trouble for themselves?"
different."
Uncle Wen, who was encouraging his adopted brother, was stunned when he heard this. He turned his head and looked Lu'er up and down, curled his lips, and continued to encourage Jie Zizi, saying: "Jie Zi, don't pay attention to this kind of barking that is destined to be a lost dog, no one will do it."
More talented than you!"
After saying that, he glanced at Lu'er again, and Lu'er also glared at him.
Beside them, Zongwei He Miao and Zhu Gui were dumbfounded.
At this moment, the door of the Confucius Temple opened, and an official from the Ministry of Etiquette came out holding a roll of rosters. He looked at the roster and shouted: "The first preliminary examination, the candidates whose names have been called come in. Hedong Zhang He, Cheng
After hearing this, Wen Qi and Jie Zizi almost in unison walked towards the door of Confucius Temple with their heads lowered.
They were so ashamed that they wanted to leave this place immediately.
However, behind their backs, their respective groups of relatives and friends are trying their best to cheer them on.
"Meson! Remember, momentum! Momentum! Use momentum to overwhelm your opponent!"
"Zhao Qi, if you fail the test, you're dead! ...Well, in short, work hard!"
"..."
Coincidentally, Jie Ziu and Wen Qi stumbled and looked at each other. They unexpectedly discovered that they could also see an emotion called shame in each other's eyes.
At this moment, Jie Ziyu and Wen Qi became friends.