After settling into the new inn, it was indeed a place facing the examination hall and it was very quiet.
In this way, Aling should be able to relax and warm up.
Zhuang Keqing breathed a sigh of relief and thought about what happened next.
Mrs. Zhao Xiucai said that the exam lasted all day and she even brought her own dry food.
The weather has not warmed up yet. Not only in the morning and evening, but also in the afternoon, it is very cold. If you bring steamed buns, even if they are just baked in the morning, you will have to leave them in the examination room all morning.
It has become a hard lump.
If this steamed stuffed bun is stuffed with meat, you will still have diarrhea after eating it. If you really encounter that situation, you won't be able to take any test, and you won't even have time to run to the toilet.
So Zhuang Keqing specifically asked the waiter if there were any famous pastry shops nearby, and she wanted to buy some to try.
Pastries have a low water content, so they won’t make you chew on your teeth no matter how cold the weather is. Moreover, they often contain dried fruits and peach kernels, and have a high sugar content, which can provide a lot of calories.
The pastry shop was not far away. She walked back and forth and had less time to burn incense. When she came back, she happened to see dried bacon in a grocery store and bought some.
Pastries provide carbohydrates, and jerky provides protein.
Very good, let’s live together!
She came here to taste these two things and see if they would cause stomach upset after eating them.
On the day of the exam, Shen Ling and Zhuang Keqing got up in the middle of the night. After they had packed up, picked up the exam basket and left the inn, they found that the scattered scholars on the road were all walking in the same direction. They must have been students taking the exam.
The inn was very close, and they arrived within about a stick of incense.
The entire street outside the examination center was sealed off yesterday, and all the family members who were taking the examination were crowded outside and refused to enter.
Zhuang Keqing was small and couldn't see clearly what was inside, but Shen Ling could see clearly.
There were two long queues at the entrance of the examination hall, with about a hundred people lined up, with government officials patrolling back and forth to maintain order.
Compared with the noise in the street outside, it was eerily quiet inside.
"Aling, go ahead, I'll wait for you outside."
Zhuang Keqing handed the basket that was guarding her chest to Shen Ling's hand. People arriving behind her were jostling each other, making her unable to stand firmly.
Shen Ling gave her a thumbs up, held her arm with a warm hand, and took the test basket with one hand.
"No need to wait for me here, go back to the inn and rest."
After saying that, he went in along the entrance where the yamen's handle was, and soon no one was seen.
Zhuang Keqing was nervous and worried. She jumped up and down a few times, but she still couldn't see what was going on inside. However, she still refused to give up and simply withdrew from the crowd and hid in a sheltered place from the wind. She decided to wait here for A Ling to come out.
It was still dark at this time.
Shen Ling held the test basket and walked slowly along the line.
There are two yamen at the entrance of the exam hall who are responsible for checking. After checking the portraits, they also check to see if there is any cheating.
Scholars who usually hold their own identities have no dignity at all at this time. They took off all their clothes in the cold weather, and the yamen servants behaved roughly, even leaving their ears and hair untouched.
Shen Ling remained calm among the candidates who were trembling and dared not speak out, and did not feel any embarrassment due to this slightly humiliating behavior.
After the examination, the candidates who entered had to wait for everyone to arrive before they could go in and meet the examiner.
Peng Ju, the magistrate of Nanzi County, was sitting in the room at the center of the examination room. At this time, the door of the room was wide open, and the two braziers lit inside were crackling and burning, allowing every candidate who was visiting outside to feel the last bit of warmth.
After the greetings are completed, seat numbers will be assigned.
The exam room was only separated by wooden boards, and there was nothing else inside except a set of tables and chairs.
Shen Ling was lucky. The seat he was assigned was right in the middle, with cover on both sides and far from the toilet.
He walked into the room, put down the basket, took out the towel prepared inside and wiped the tables and chairs, and then sat quietly with his eyes closed until the yamen in the examination room began to distribute the test papers.
By this time it was daylight.
The first session of the county examination, Tie Jing.
The questions for Tie Jing are drawn from the Four Books and Five Classics. They do not test the interpretation or expansion. They are purely a test of the basic skills of memorization.
As long as you don't have trouble memorizing all the books, or your handwriting is too sloppy and embarrassing, you can basically pass. It is the most lenient exam among the five.
When it came to writing silently, Shen Ling could almost silently write backwards with his eyes closed, but even so, he was very cautious. After filling out the paper, he checked it back and forth three times to make sure there were no problems before putting it down.
During this period, he didn't drink a sip of water or use a sip of cake.
Summoning the yamen patrolling the field, Shen Ling handed in his papers and then left the examination room with the examination basket in hand.
It was already noon.
The examiner Peng Ju sat on the main seat and casually accepted the paper presented by the yamen servant. When he saw the neat and clear handwriting on it, he immediately became energetic.
Good words!
He praised slightly in his heart and looked up at Shen Ling who was pulling away.
Sure enough, people are as they say!
Let’s look at the content again!
Tie Jing failed to pass the test of reciting dictation, and there were no tricks. But just now Peng Ju had read countless papers that were not even good at dictation. Now when he looked at Shen Ling's, he felt as comfortable as the breeze blowing on his face. .
After reading the paper, Peng Ju turned to the name and place of origin at the front and wrote down Shen Ling's name.
There was still a huge crowd outside the examination room. Shen Ling carried the examination basket, bypassed the waiting crowd, and walked towards the inn.
"Aling."
It was Zhuang Keqing's voice.
She waited outside for a long time and listened to a lot of gossip.
Some candidates were unlucky and got assigned a bad number and fainted from the smell. Or some candidates sat in a leaky exam room and got wet and got carried out. Or maybe there was a hair split in the exam room. The examinee didn't dare to say anything because of the mess, and the handwriting was unsightly, so the examiner rejected it when he handed in the paper.
There are all kinds of things, it's just a lot of bad luck.
Zhuang Keqing was on the side, shaking his head as he listened.
Don't let this happen to Aling.
She had been outside blowing the cold wind all morning, and the little food she had eaten when she got up in the middle of the night had long been digested. She was cold and hungry at this time, but she was very happy to see Shen Ling come out. No matter how she did in the exam, she finally It's been a day.
Shen Ling was carrying the test basket and saw the girl waving to him from a distance with raised eyebrows. The expression on her face relaxed, and the self-possession and indifference that she had maintained throughout the morning disappeared in an instant.
"Why don't you wait for me at the inn?"
Seeing Zhuang Keqing's lips turning white from the cold, Shen Ling felt heartbroken.
He reached out and put the girl's cold hands into his arms, letting her lean against him, and asked in a low voice.
"I'm afraid of missing you when you come out."
While answering, Zhuang Keqing opened the cloth covering the examination basket and saw that the pastries and dried meat inside were not moved at all. He couldn't help but worry, "Why haven't you eaten anything?"
"I'm not hungry. I also want to finish answering as soon as possible."
Candidates came out one after another, and the family servants around them rushed forward and pushed aside the two people who were talking.
"Come on, let's go back to the inn and I'll cook you a delicious meal."
There were four exams ahead, and Zhuang Keqing didn't dare to relax, not even to eat out. She had greeted the innkeepers early and said she would borrow their stove to make some meals for her husband.
The inn has seen these demands many times, and as long as it doesn't affect business and provides enough money, there's nothing wrong with it.
The two of them returned to the inn and did not mention resting or eating.
The results were released on the second day, and Zhuang Keqing was not willing to go there with others so early in the morning, so he spent some money to find someone to report.
As expected, Shen Ling was among the approved list, and even won the first place.
Zhuang Keqing was extremely happy, but Shen Ling was as indifferent as ever, showing no special emotions because of this first victory.
The day after the results are released is the next test, which is a test of Mo Yi.
Mo Yi is the interpretation of the Four Books and Five Classics. It is said to test understanding, but in fact it is still memorizing.
From Shen Ling's perspective, this was easy and effortless.
For eight days, four games in a row, he passed and came first every time. However, the seat numbers assigned each time were different, so even though he had won four first places in a row, no one else knew about it.
There were also a lot of people sighing in the inn. Some of the candidates knew each other and were quietly asking about it, but they didn't really find out the reason.
But although others didn't know it, the examiner Peng Ju knew clearly that the first four games were all won by this student named Shen Ling.
He had been paying attention since the first show, and after four consecutive shows, he had found that this guy was solid in literature and theory, and his logic was clear, which was really rare. As long as this last poem wasn't a particularly bad poem, he would definitely order him to do it. This is the beginning of the case.
"Aling, it's the last show, so work hard."
Just like the previous times, Zhuang Keqing handed the examination basket to Shen Ling and watched him enter the examination room and disappear into the crowd.
