Chapter 53 Exam room
"Hey, Pijiang, you're here! I'm so tired that I can't find it all over the place!"
As soon as Maoxiang walked into the gate of the Gongyuan, Yu Huai greeted him excitedly.
"Oh, what's the matter?" Mao Xiang asked while looking around.He found that there were still a lot of juzi who hadn't entered the arena, and inside and outside the fence, they were still crowded, at least two or three thousand people, plus their servants, the number would be even more.Some of the candidates were crowding in front of the gate of the Gongyuan to wait for the roll call, while the rest stood randomly in groups here and there.Some were chatting vigorously, while others were holding books and sharpening their guns there.Exam baskets and luggage of various shapes and colors were thrown all over the place, and a continuous, buzzing voice echoed in my ears.
"Well, what's the matter?" Mao Xiang looked away, looked at Yu Huai, and asked again.
But Yu Huai didn't answer immediately, he pulled Maoxiang away from the crowded gate, and then whispered mysteriously: "Tell brother, brother, don't panic!—Huh?"
"What's the matter?"
"Brother, let's guess—someone is coming."
"Who?"
Yu Huai winked and said, "You might as well guess!"
"I don't have time to guess!"
"Then—" Yu Huai was helpless, he looked at Maoxiang, hesitated for a moment, "Okay, let me tell you, Dong Shuangcheng——the fairy has arrived!"
Mao Xiang was taken aback: "What? Xiao Wan is here?"
"Look, I didn't tell you not to panic..."
"Who sent her? Where is she? Why don't I know?"
"Of course you don't know. He is very considerate to my brother. I was afraid of disturbing your first essay, so I stayed on the boat outside the Sanshan Gate and didn't go into the city!"
"Then, how do you know?"
"Of course someone told me! Hey, Pijiang, on the boat under Jinshan that day, didn't you say it well in front of everyone, if you want to go to Gusu to pick her up and try to come to Nanjing, why don't you go when the time comes? Yes! Well, this is not so good! Haha!" Yu Huai said with a playful smile.
"You don't need to worry about it!" Mao Xiang waved his hand, walked away in annoyance, and suddenly walked back, "Do you know what she is here for?"
"What are you doing here? It's a strange question! Naturally, I'm going to play with my brother!" Yu Huai spread his hands and said with a smile, then shook his head and began to chant, "Hey, 'The wedding night, the gold list When signing the title'! It’s such a quick thing, it’s really accomplished in a few lifetimes! Brother Pijiang, congratulations, little brother!" As he said, he cupped his hands on his chest and bowed deeply.
Mao Xiang's face turned red: "Stop talking nonsense!"
"What? Nonsense?" Yu Huai said in amazement, "This news is absolutely true. I came to tell my brother with good intentions, and it's fine if you don't thank me, but..." At this point, he seemed to suddenly think of something, and he turned his head. Glancing at the flag next to the gate, he immediately shouted, "No, it's us!" Saying that, he dropped Maoxiang in a panic, and ran away in a hurry.
"So, she finally came to Nanjing after all! I was worried that she would do this, but it didn't happen! What should I do now? What should I do?" When Mao Xiang was left alone, he thought irritably, and put his hands behind his back , wandering up.
To be honest, he didn't go to Suzhou to pick up Dong Xiaowan as agreed, because he had his own considerations.Although a few months ago, at the foot of the Jinshan Mountain in Zhenjiang, he was pestered by Dong Xiaowan, and with the help of Fang Yizhi, Yu Huai and other social friends, he reluctantly agreed to consider marrying Dong Xiaowan. , but deep down, it is not really decided like this.After he returned to Rugao's home, after thinking about it calmly, he felt even more awkward.In his opinion, Dong Xiaowan is no match for Chen Yuanyuan.Regardless of appearance and demeanor, Dong Xiaowan is far from Chen Yuanyuan's charm in terms of personality.Chen Yuanyuan, even after they had a marriage agreement, Mao Xiang still often had a kind of worry that she would suddenly change her mind and abandon him.Although, just because of this reason, he often deliberately indifferent to her, but in his heart it is to hold her even tighter!But for Dong Xiaowan, he didn't feel this way at all.She was too docile, too determined!True, she adored him, there was no doubt of that.But she is too clumsy, so clumsy that it is boring... If Chen Yuanyuan is like a beautiful and unruly pony, then Dong Xiaowan is like a lamb.A lamb can only make people miserable, but a beautiful and unruly horse will arouse people's desire to conquer her and control her. "I lost Yuanyuan, and I can't marry Xiaowan. I can't let people laugh at me for being incompetent!" So Mao Xiang decided to break the contract and go to Suzhou to pick up Dong Xiaowan.Because he thought that during the rural examination period, community members from all over the world would gather in Nanjing. If Dong Xiaowan was present, they would inevitably swarm and boo him, making it even more difficult for him to step down...
"But it's too bad, she came here by herself! Hey, it's really unreasonable!" Mao Xiang was angry and thought anxiously.However, it was only for a while, and he couldn't think about it anymore.Because a group of juzi from the same county found him, they all gathered around to say hello and greeting to him, so Mao Xiang had to put his mind down for the time being and deal with everyone.
It wasn't until the evening that it was the turn of Yangzhou Mansion's Juzi to enter the arena.Everyone wore wide and large white cloth straight gowns, and waited for three hours under the scorching sun in August. Although they held umbrellas, they were already sweating, dizzy, and exhausted.No one bothered to talk anymore, they just kept talking about getting in quickly.
Since Maoxiang came, several minor incidents have occurred in the examination room.One is that during the inspection of the second gate of the Gongyuan, two cases of cheating were found.One of them asked someone to write hundreds of articles in advance, with various topics, and then wrote them in small letters on extremely thin gold foil paper, folded into very small paper ends, some were stuffed into the pen barrel, some Hidden under the hollowed-out inkstone, obviously intending to take it out and copy it when the time comes; the other is even more ingenious, writing the article prepared in advance on the green cloth coat with medicine juice, and smearing a layer of green mud on the outside, as long as the mud is wiped off, The handwriting appeared immediately.The means of these two people are not low-level, somehow, they were discovered, and they were stripped of their clothes and hats, and put on shackles to show the public.This time, it caused a sensation outside the field.Those who were not clean became frightened, and immediately scattered one or two hundred people.The second thing is that the weather was too hot, and five or six of them couldn't hold on. They fell into a coma on the spot, and were carried out by the military service in the examination room for treatment.Another thing is that a madman from nowhere, drunk, ran into the gate to make trouble, yelling and shouting, and recited a song:
While he was reading, he was giggling, making the faces of the group of judges turn red and white with embarrassment.In the end, everyone became angry and rushed forward, arrested him, and handed him over to the inspector to take him into custody...
Now, Maoxiang finally heard the promotion officer standing at the east gate call out his name.With a promise, he turned around and took the test basket and rolls from Maocheng, and walked into the ranks of Rugao County. enter the gate.At this time, it was dark, and two stacks of reeds were piled up on both sides of the yard inside the gate, and the blazing fire continued to shine into the sky.Mao Xiang put down his luggage, and like the other candidates, he untied his clothes, took off his shoes and socks as usual, carried them with his hands, and then went to the fence of the second gate to get the test paper.
"Well, I just found two people who were in their possessions, this time I'm afraid we'll have to suffer." He walked into the second door as he thought.Sure enough, the atmosphere inside was different. Each of the four inspectors was in charge of a corner, and they were sitting on the chairs watching intently.As soon as Mao Xiang walked in, two yamen servants came over, undressed him, stripped his trousers, searched him extensively, not only all the stationery had to be beaten and inspected, but also the quilt and clothes had to be dismantled, even the pastry The bread is also cut open with a knife to have a look.Maoxiang was so upset, but he couldn't get angry, so he finally passed the inspection and walked into the dragon gate.He looked at the seat number on the test paper, and it happened to be number one in the word "地".He knew that it was the first gate on the east side of Longmen, also known as "East Dragon Gill", so he didn't look at the "Xi Shetu" hanging on the wall, went straight out of Longmen, turned to the right, and entered "Donglongji". "Di" brand name door, settled down in the first house.
It turns out that this house is only three feet wide and four feet deep, and each child lives in one room.In order to facilitate monitoring, it was deliberately built with a roof, no doors, and no windows. There was only a small alcove where the oil lamp was placed, and there were two rows of protruding brick brackets on the walls on both sides.As for the table and bed, they are really just two wooden boards that can be combined.When you want to answer the paper, separate the two boards and put one on the upper and lower brick supports to form a table and a chair.When sleeping, two bricks are placed side by side on the two brick supports below to form a bed.Because the place is very small, he had to lie down on his knees, and there was no door, so he had to hang an oil curtain temporarily. When it was windy and rainy, the situation was very embarrassing.Even if it doesn't rain, it's almost the same as sitting in a steamer in the scorching heat like now.But Mao Xiang can no longer take care of these.He knew that the cannon was about to be fired to seal the door, and there was not much time left for him to prepare.He hurried to the aisle to ask for some water from the "Huanhaojun", a veteran who was in charge of taking care of Juzi's daily life, made a cup of tea, wolfed down two snacks, and began to grind ink.At this time, the number gates had been closed, and the surroundings became very quiet. There were no examiners moving around, and even the majestic coughing and footsteps of the invigilators were temporarily inaudible. , An atmosphere of uneasiness, like a battlefield that is about to start a life-and-death fight.However, Mao Xiang was quite calm, he was still grinding the ink briskly.This is the fourth time he has participated in the provincial examination, and he can be said to be quite familiar with this atmosphere.It is true that the previous three times were failures, but this time was different. After nearly a month of painstaking research, he felt that he had made a breakthrough in the writing of stereotyped essays. His vision and handwriting were far from what they used to be.What's more, Shi Kefa opened his joints in advance.Unless God deliberately made trouble, there is absolutely no reason for it.In fact, God seems to be willing to help. Hasn't he already shown auspiciousness in the hexagram...
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The cannon that sealed the door sounded.Mao Xiang's thoughts skipped a beat.Instinctively, he put down the ink stick, looked outside, sat upright, and waited for the test questions to be distributed.However, that brisk thought was still dancing in his mind.
"...If you pass this time, then you should go to Beijing to take the exam next year. Huh, I'm not afraid of the exam! Although the Chinese style exam is much more difficult than the rural exam, the good thing is that the examiner's knowledge and vision It is much higher, I believe they can understand my articles better!... If you pass both the general examination and the palace examination, it is best to try to get into the Imperial Academy, like Fang Mizhi, as an editor or something, do it well If you have the opportunity to be on duty in the cabinet and participate in the maintenance, the road will be much smoother in the future. Otherwise, it will be meaningless to be sent to a remote village to become the prince of Laoshizi County! Yes, then I must Try to get into the Hanlin Academy!..." After secretly deciding like this, he began to imagine how he would display his talents once he was in the center of power, gain the trust of the emperor, and then vigorously rectify the government, and mercilessly replace those incompetent people , Promote a group of like-minded people who share the same goals with him, and place them in various important departments.Then through them, resolutely implement their own set of political views.In this way, within a few years, the situation in the country will definitely be completely changed.At that time, the bandits will be wiped out, the rebels will be wiped out, the Ming Dynasty will be rejuvenated, and he will go down in history as a generation of famous ministers... Mao Xiang is immersed in ambitious suspense, with a smile on his face.He was so excited and fascinated by the thought that when the inspector sent the test questions to him, he almost didn't react.
There are a total of 23 questions in the test, among which there are three questions in the "Four Books" and four questions in each of the "Five Classics".According to the regulations, except for the three questions in the "Four Books", which must be done in full, for the 20 questions in the "Five Classics", the examiner only needs to do the four questions of the classic that he is applying for.One article for each question, the number of "seven arts" is synthesized.To complete seven articles in less than two days, and to do it well, and to copy and correct it in regular script, is really an extremely stressful and hard job, and often there are many papers that cannot be completed, or Passed out on the spot due to excessive tension.
So Mao Xiang didn't dare to think about it anymore, he took the question paper and first glanced it quickly.He knew that since the ancient books "Four Books" and "Five Classics" are not many in length and the number of words is limited, if the sentences in them are generally selected as the topic, it will inevitably be repeated after a long time.Therefore, today's examiners are trying to change patterns, or select several sentences in each chapter and section, or divide a chapter into several sections, or intercept a sentence from a section, or connect several chapters and sections together. It is impossible to predict the topic in this way.However, there is also a corresponding countermeasure for the exercise, that is, multiply the number of exercises, split and split, piece together and piece together those classics, do dozens of questions, or even hundreds of questions in advance, and memorize them. , Memorized.In this way, there are always one or two questions, or even three or four questions.In order to cope with this exam, Mao Xiang also prepared a batch of articles in advance.Now, he hoped that among the twenty-three test questions, he could find some questions that he had done... However, there was no.Even the most accidental "Five Classics" topics are all things he has never done before.It seems that the questions he thought of were too biased and too clever, but this time, the examiner seemed to be playing hide-and-seek with the candidates, and all the questions he asked were relatively ordinary.
Finally, Mao Xiang was stunned.Of course, it is not impossible for him to write articles because of this, but the batch of proud works that have been carefully prepared and scrutinized in advance cannot even be used now.In other words, all seven articles had to be reconceived, written, revised, and transcribed.In this way, it is a bit difficult to say whether he can really give full play to his abilities. "Oh, why didn't I think of this level? Why did I keep digging into those weird and uncommon questions? I should have thought that after those years of weird and uncommon questions, maybe I would reverse it, but I actually Miscalculation!" He thought regretfully, and looked at the test questions again, not knowing whether he was anxious or flustered, he suddenly felt: These questions are undoubtedly very common, but just like that, it is very difficult to find new ideas and show skills .This time, he seems destined to be unable to write it well...
"Hey, I still wanted to take the first place in it, but I stumbled before I even wrote it! For the past month, I have spent all my time and effort on it. If I only get a fourth in the exam After fifty, what's the point? What's the point!" He cried angrily in his heart, and suddenly raised his head in a fit of irritability.Just then, he saw a pair of eyes.These are old, cloudy, ugly eyes.It was watching itself motionless and suspicious.Mao Xiang couldn't help being surprised!
Looking at Maoxiang was an old hornet.The reason why he did this was probably because Mao Xiang's demeanor caught his attention.The old army found that Mao Xiang was also looking at him, so he looked away, raised his head, glanced at the distant and mysterious midnight starry sky, and walked away.
"Ah, why is he doing this? What does this mean?" Mao Xiang thought, involuntarily turning his gaze to the sky.Suddenly, a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, as if he heard a voice saying: "God's will! Everything has its own will, why do you need to trouble yourself?" This voice is so majestic and so benevolent.Mao Xiang's mood suddenly became calm.In front of his eyes, there seemed to be an incomparably great, dominant, and irresistible force, and the birth and death, rise and fall, and cause and effect of everything in the world had already been made the most reasonable and strict arrangements by it. people, it is impossible to be peeped.Then, how do you know that this arrangement is definitely not good for you...
He was no longer irritable, picked up the pen lightly, dipped it in the ink, bent down, and began to write word by word on the test paper...