177, entrance examination

177, entrance examination

As soon as the Mid-Autumn Festival was over, the provincial examination began.

The candidates taking part in this year's provincial examination are basically students who were admitted in previous academy examinations.

This year's academy exams had just concluded in June, and the list of accepted students had only been posted last month. It hadn't even been two months since the provincial exams began. Therefore, the students who had passed the academy exams generally wouldn't register for this year's provincial exams, because even if they did, the chances of failing were far greater than the chances of passing.

Lu Mingfei himself did not register for this year's provincial examination, nor did he hear that any of the candidates who took the exam in the same batch had registered for this year's provincial examination.

Maybe there is, maybe he just hasn't heard of it.

Anyway, as someone who had won first place in the college entrance examination, he had no confidence in taking the provincial examination right after passing it. If anyone had the courage to take the exam, he would silently bless them in his heart.

The next provincial examination would be held in three years, and his goal was the next provincial examination.

If he could pass the next provincial examination, it would be a great achievement. He didn't even think about taking this year's exam. Even if he registered, it would just be a formality. He didn't want to waste his time. Instead of wasting time taking the provincial examination, he would rather make more money for his family and spend more time studying and preparing for the Imperial College entrance examination.

Because the day after the provincial examination, it was time for them to take the Imperial College examination.

On this day, Zhang Lingxuan and Ye Zhuoran came to pick him up in a carriage, and then they went to pick up their senior brother to go to the Imperial College to take the exam.

"Don't be nervous, we'll just try our best." Lu Mingfei, seeing Ye Zhuoran's nervousness, consoled his friend. He looked at the others in the carriage and said with a smile, "If all four of us pass this time, we'll continue to be classmates for the next three years."

"Thank you for your good wishes." Fu Boming said with a smile.

Zhang Lingxuan raised his hand and pressed Ye Zhuoran's head, using silence to encourage Ye Zhuoran.

Fortunately, the four of them learned their lesson this time and arrived early, so they didn’t have to wait long before it was their turn to line up and enter.

This time, their exam was held in a large room. There were many tables and chairs arranged under the long corridor from the inside to the outside, providing them with seating. Students who came in to take the exam could sit anywhere, unlike their previous county and academy exams, where they had to take the exam in designated seats according to their exam numbers.

There were four of them coming together, so they found a seat close to each other to sit down and take the exam.

Before coming, they all brought pens, ink and inkstones, and the Imperial Academy provided them with a piece of white paper to write on to answer the questions.

Although the entrance examination of the Imperial College this time was not as strict as the examinations held by the government, there were invigilators and some students wearing Imperial College uniforms to maintain order, and the atmosphere in the entire examination room was very serious.

In such an environment, no one would dare to cheat. Because if you are caught cheating, you will never be able to study at the Imperial College, and your reputation will be bad, and in serious cases, it will affect your career.

The Imperial Academy required only students who had passed the imperial examination to register for the exam. Therefore, those who were able to take the exam today were already scholars with official titles, and everyone was very careful about their reputation. Even if one couldn't get into the Imperial Academy, one could still study at another good academy. However, once a stain was left on one's life, it was not easy to clean it up.

Therefore, no one who comes to the Imperial College to take the exam would want to cheat in such an environment.

This time, the Imperial College exam was not as long-winded as the previous academy and prefectural exams, which required a lot of time to answer. This exam only had one policy essay question, and they had to answer it and hand it in within the specified time.

This essay question is not too extreme. It is based on a sentence said by Confucius in the "Learning" chapter of "The Analects of Confucius". The candidates have to write an essay based on this sentence.

After Lu Mingfei got the topic, he first made a draft on a piece of manuscript paper. After writing down his ideas, he picked up a brush, dipped it in ink, and began to write his name and hometown on the top of the paper, and then started writing.

After writing a long and eloquent article, he finished it.

He noticed that the people around him were still writing furiously, and was worried that Ye Zhuoran would be anxious after he handed in the paper, so after he finished writing, he slowly looked over his paper again, and then handed in the paper and went out.

Not long after he came out, their senior brother Fu Boming was the second to come out.

"Have you finished your exams too?"

"Yeah, I saw you coming out, so I followed you out."

After the two of them greeted each other, they stood here waiting for Zhang Lingxuan and Ye Zhuoran to come out. They did not discuss much about the content of the exam.

They waited here for a while, and saw many candidates who had finished the exam coming out. Then they saw Zhang Lingxuan and Ye Zhuoran following the crowd.

"I'm so nervous!" Ye Zhuoran hugged Lu Mingfei's arm and said as soon as he saw Lu Mingfei.

"Have you finished writing?" Lu Mingfei asked with a smile.

"Well, I've finished writing! Fortunately you..." Ye Zhuoran wanted to say something, but without having to see Lu Mingfei's look, he took back the rest of his words.

The four men came out, found the coachman waiting for them, and got on the carriage.

After the four of them boarded the carriage, Ye Zhuoran hugged Lu Mingfei, almost crying with emotion. "It's a good thing you gave us the same topic to write an essay on a few days ago. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn't be able to finish an essay in such a short time today."

"If I can pass the exam this time, you will definitely be the biggest contributor. Ming Fei, thank you so much!"

"Don't thank me, you should thank yourself." Lu Mingfei didn't take all the credit for this. He patted the excited man and asked Ye Zhuoran to let him go. Then he said to Ye Zhuoran, "Because if you don't work hard and are unwilling to learn, it's useless for others to urge you. So, the person you should thank the most is yourself, not others."

Yes, Lu Mingfei guessed the topic for their exam today. He had just given the same topic a few days ago and wrote the same article for the four of them.

The reason he was able to predict the exam questions correctly was because he had learned from the papers Zhao Lang had brought back to him that the questions in the Imperial College's annual entrance exams were not too difficult, and were mostly drawn from the Four Books. Therefore, during their two weeks of intensive study, he had been leading everyone in studying the Four Books, thoroughly explaining each key point and even giving them several topics to write essays on.

In fact, his original idea was to train their writing ability and speed, and he didn't expect to be able to guess the question this time.

"No, no, no. If it weren't for you and Zhang Lingxuan taking me to school, I definitely wouldn't have even passed the county exam. Let alone the academy exam, and now I'm going to the Imperial College exam with you guys." Ye Zhuoran knew full well that he wasn't a natural at studying. If it weren't for his father and mother forcing him to study, and Zhang Lingxuan pulling him along for so many years, he would have probably given up studying long ago and become a playboy at home, living a life of idleness and waiting to die.

Later, they met Lu Mingfei, a close friend in life. This close friend not only studied hard himself, but was also willing to take them to study hard together. This completely changed some of his ideas and turned him from a person who just wanted to eat and wait for death into a person with aspirations and ideas.

"Even if I fail the exam this time, I'll accept it. At least I tried my best!"

"We just finished the exam and the results haven't come out yet. Don't say such discouraging words. The four of us will definitely pass." Lu Mingfei had a premonition that this time the four of them might be able to enter the Imperial College and continue to be classmates for another three years.

If they guessed the test questions in advance and still failed the entrance examination to the Imperial College, then it seemed that they really had no chance of getting into the Imperial College.

"Now that the exams are over, let's go back and wait for the news. We'll come back here in a few days to check the results. Whether you passed or failed, the results will be there."

"Yeah." Zhang Lingxuan nodded, knowing that they had all finished the exam now, and there was no point in them being anxious except waiting for the results to come out.

"Are you guys in a hurry to go back?" Ye Zhuoran, who had already come out of his exam mood, raised his hand high, asking everyone to look at him. He asked, "I'm treating you all to dinner today. Just tell me what you want to eat. You can choose from the largest restaurants in Kyoto!"

When he heard about going out for dinner, Lu Mingfei shook his head and declined his friend's kindness, "No, no, no, I don't want to go. There are so many people outside now, I just want to find a quiet place."

One thing that must be said is that the provincial examinations have just ended, and the prefectural and imperial examinations have also just ended. After the examinations, these scholars have been completely released. Now, in the restaurants and teahouses of all sizes in Kyoto, scholars are gathering together to write poems and discuss various political affairs.

Having lived in Kyoto Prefecture for so many years, Lu Mingfei already knew what kind of people these scholars were.

A truly learned person wouldn't spend all day out drinking and partying with others, talking nonsense. The palace examination will be held in February of next year. At this time, if someone is confident of their provincial exam scores, they should be preparing for the palace examination in February of next year, rather than spending all day out drinking and partying with others, attending various parties and activities.

The people coming out now are all a bunch of half-baked people, a bunch of half-baked people who want to attract attention.

If, like last time, he ran into a few people who recognized him, he would definitely be dragged into a poetry competition. Just thinking about that scene made Lu Mingfei's scalp tingle, and he didn't want to participate in those activities at all.

Upon hearing this, Ye Zhuoran was the first to disagree, "Ming Fei, you're either hiding at home studying all day, or hiding at home studying. This is not okay..."

"Well, how about we go and have a chat with the teacher?" Rather than running out and possibly being caught writing poetry and songs, Lu Mingfei would rather go and have tea and chat with their teacher.

Ye Zhuoran glanced at Zhang Lingxuan and their senior brother, and reluctantly agreed, "Alright, let's go buy some good wine and food and have a couple of drinks with the masters!"

“…” Lu Mingfei.

“…”Zhang Lingxuan.

"..." Fu Boming! Author's words: Thank you Bole 9492239 (9492239) for your support, mua! To know more exciting content, please leave me a message on Liancheng Reading