It soon became dark, and the Gongyuan dormitory was lit with lights. Under the lamps were students racking their brains to get ahead. It was almost early winter, and the temperature plummeted after the sun set. The dormitory was not very airtight.
There was air leakage from everywhere in the dormitory, coupled with the damp and cold ground, the candidates under the lamp soon became cold, with their hands and feet freezing. The coldness on their bodies was nothing more, but what was even more uncomfortable was the coldness in their hearts.
When the examination questions on poetry, poetry, poetry and theory were distributed in the evening, many aspiring candidates were devastated because they found that the examination questions were beyond their ability. In the past, people said that the imperial examination was difficult, but many people did not take it seriously. They thought that they were familiar with poetry and books.
If you are well-read, once you take part in the imperial examination, you will definitely be able to catch it with ease. Those people who have failed in the imperial examination are actually mediocre, that's why they failed. But now, this type of talent has truly understood the difficulty of the imperial examination, and that is not the case.
After reading some Analects of Confucius and reading through some historical books, you can pass the test smoothly.
Lin Jue had no intention of staying up late. The weather was so cold that there was no need to light a lamp and stay up late to meditate. So he boiled tea again, baked sugar cakes and had a hearty meal. Then he immediately started to dismantle the table and seat boards to build a bed. The bed was set up.
After laying out the bedding, Lin Jue turned on the lamp and got into bed early to sleep.
The invigilator who was responsible for patrolling outside at night had never seen any candidates turn off the lights and go to bed so early. He approached Lin Jue's dormitory uneasily, opened the small hole in the door and looked in with a lantern, worried about what was going on.
Unexpected. But the snoring coming from inside made them look at each other speechless, shake their heads and walk away with a wry smile.
Lin Jue slept soundly. The double-layer bedding specially sewn by Green Dance was very warm, and the inside was made of fine cashmere. Although it was torn in several places when entering today, it was still very soft. Lin Jue has been doing this for the past few days.
I was also quite tired, so I fell asleep soon after getting into bed.
In the middle of the night, Lin woke up. He could only hear the night wind outside and the rustling of leaves. The wind passing through the dormitory was freezing and biting, and his exposed face was numb from the cold. Only then did he realize that he had been frozen by the cold wind.
When he woke up, he didn't know who opened the square hole in the door, which caused the draft to flow from front to back, which made him very cold. Lin Jue cursed in a low voice and got up and closed the wooden door on the wooden board on the square hole, only to find that
The dormitory opposite was dimly lit, and there were actually many people who were still meditating in the cold night and had not yet gone to bed.
Lin Jue smiled bitterly and shook his head. He stretched out his hand to move the wooden board on the square hole and closed it. He then got back into the warm bed and continued to sleep soundly.
…
In the early morning of the next day, Lin Jue woke up in the freezing cold. Sitting up, he felt as if he had slept in the open air all night. The dilapidated dormitory did not play any role in keeping out the cold. Fortunately, his bedding was enough.
Keep warm, otherwise it will be a very uncomfortable night.
While Lin Jue was drinking hot tea and eating baked sugar cakes, he heard bursts of violent coughing coming from the cabins on the left and right. Lin Jue knew that these people must have suffered from colds last night.
When I got up last night, I saw that these people were still up in the middle of the night, braving the cold and meditating hard. That was really not a wise move.
Before finishing the second piece of sugar cake, he heard a noise outside. The soldiers patrolling outside ran quickly along the wooden corridor in front of the dormitory, as if something big had happened. Lin Jue hurriedly joined in.
I looked out through the square hole in the wooden door. Although the angle was not good, I seemed to see a door in the dormitory opposite being opened. Several soldiers were busy carrying a man out of it. The man's body was upright.
, remained silent and didn’t know what was going on?
The candidates in the surrounding dormitories were all leaning on the door and looking over there. Lin Jue clearly heard someone say: "The person is gone. There is still a rope around his neck. He was hanged last night."
Lin Jue was startled. Just as he was about to ask, several invigilators shouted loudly: "Go back to the exam and don't stick your head in to talk. Otherwise, you will be punished for cheating."
Everyone hurried back, eating and washing themselves, not daring to peek out to watch. Lin Jue slowly stepped back, the sugar cakes in his hands were cold, and he had no appetite anymore. The examinee in the dormitory opposite himself
I met him when I came in. He was a handsome young man with a warm smile. I didn't expect that he actually hanged himself in the dormitory.
Lin Jue vaguely guessed that the reason why the young man committed suicide must be that he felt that he had no hope of passing the exam after getting the exam questions. Maybe he had to go to school to take the exam and his family was completely destitute. Maybe his wife and children were ragged and had no food or clothing.
Hope took up all the resources of the family head. But when he entered the examination room, he got the test questions that he could not handle at all, and found that it was impossible to pass. He thought that all the hopes were in vain, and the family's expectations turned into disappointment. This kind of
The feeling of loss will definitely make people despair and unbearable. So he chose to die and never suffer such pain again.
Lin Jue once chose this extreme way to end his life in his life on earth. Lin Jue still has that feeling that is unforgettable, so he empathizes with it. If people are not desperate to the extreme, how can they choose to commit suicide?
This road. There must be something more terrifying and painful than death, and a pressure more unbearable than death.
Lin Jue was silent for a long time and bowed to the dormitory in the distance. Then he gathered his mood and dismantled the bed, set up a desk, spread test paper, polished the ink and moistened the pen, and prepared to start answering the questions.
The long and torturous day passed quickly. When it got dark, the lights in Building No. 138 were extinguished early, and the candidates inside got into bed early to rest. He wanted to sleep and forget about his brain during the day.
I am so nervous and exhausted. I only have the last policy article left tomorrow, and I am about to get through it.
In the middle of the night, Lin Jue still woke up. But this time he was not awakened by the cold wind. He was awakened by the coughing and crying sounds coming from the left and right dormitories. I don’t know why, but there were many dormitories.
The candidates among them let out painful howls and groans in the middle of the night. The sound was like a trapped and injured beast. It sounded like a bone-shattering sound and made people shudder in the dark night.
The invigilators and patrol soldiers loudly scolded the candidates who were crying in the middle of the night, threatening that if they continued to cry and howl, they would be deprived of their qualifications to take the exam and expelled. Only in this way did the crying and moaning in the middle of the night gradually subside.
Lin Jue was lying on the bed. The sound of the night wind blowing through the treetops outside was like a cry, giving people an ominous feeling. Just like the howling sounds made by the students just now, it made people shudder. Lin Jue knew that,
The painful sounds made by those students just now are definitely not because of the cold, they are the pain of the soul. Although this imperial examination is a prosperous road that changes your destiny, it is full of thorns and extremely difficult and dangerous. When you pay
After having too many experiences, placing too high expectations, and then finding that there is no way to reach the light on the other side, the pain will be unforgettable and deep into the bone marrow. How can these desperate people not help themselves on such a cold and lonely night?
Letting out painful moans and wails.
Lin Jue's feelings about the Gongyuan Hall had completely changed. Before, he had a sense of awe and solemnity about this place where the imperial examinations were held. He felt that this was a sacred place. It was indeed possible to break through class stereotypes here.
Change one's destiny; but at the same time, this place is also an abyss that swallows people's lives and souls. It is the cruelest place in the world that crushes people's dreams and disillusiones people's hopes.
…
At noon on the morning of September 25, the fourth year of Qingfeng's reign in the Great Zhou Dynasty, with the rapid and harsh sound of gongs, the autumn entrance examination for Liangzhe Road undergraduates officially ended. Tens of thousands of candidates suffered in the dark dormitory for three days and finally got the chance to
See the light of day again.
As the wooden doors of the dormitory were opened one after another, countless students with disheveled clothes, messy buns, and sunken eye sockets walked out of the dormitory, carrying packages and boxes on their backs, as if they were prisoners who had been imprisoned for several years. The autumn sun was shining brightly, and it stung.
Their eyes were covered with red threads. I don't know whether it was because of the stimulation of the light or because of other reasons. Many people had tears streaming down their cheeks.
Lin Jue walked out of the dormitory with a big package on his back. The sun was shining brightly and the air was fresh outside. The yellow leaves were whistling on the tall trees. The sunlight shot down from between the leaves, mottled and sparkling. Although the scenery at this time was desolate in autumn, it was still beautiful.
In Lin Jue's view, it was nothing less than the scenery of spring and bright scenery, which made people infinitely happy. Looking back at the dark house that still exuded dampness and a faint musty smell, Lin Jue felt as if he was in another world. If possible,
He never wanted to come back here again. In the past three days, Lin Jue could still bear it, but what happened around him gave Lin Jue a huge impact. Lin Jue took a deep breath and slowly walked towards the exit with the flow of people.
.
At the east and west exits of Gongyuan Street, huge crowds of people came to greet them. At the end of the autumn period, the restricted area was lifted, so the candidates' families and entourages rushed outside the exits to welcome their family members' triumph. Suddenly, the streets were filled with people.
