Chapter 165: Misjudgment

The theme of the first day's poem is spring scenery, and the theme of the article is a passage from the Doctrine of the Mean: "Sincerity leads to wisdom, which is called nature. Wisdom leads to sincerity, which is called education. Sincerity leads to wisdom, and wisdom leads to sincerity."

Compared to the county and prefectural examinations which only test memorization and interpretation of the Four Books and Five Classics, questions like these can be said to be a level deeper.

Not only do you need to understand the meaning, write down your own understanding, and make your words meaningful.

As soon as the test questions were released, all the candidates began to think hard.

Some people frowned, some lowered their heads in thought, and some looked up to the sky.

After a while, someone picked up the brush next to him, dipped it in the ink on the inkstone, and started writing on the straw paper on the desk.

Song Jingyun didn't pick up his pen until half an hour after the exam started. Unlike others who made a draft first, he wrote directly on the exam paper.

The examination room opened and officials inspected it.

Academician Zhou Yuanjie put his hands behind his back and paced back and forth in the examination room.

When he saw someone writing furiously, he nodded slightly. When he saw someone with a grim look on their face who still had no idea how to start writing, he remained expressionless. When he saw Song Jingyun already writing his answers on the answer sheet of the test paper...

Zhou Yuanjie shook his head.

During the exam, there is a limit on the number of words in each line on the answer sheet, and the essay must not be too long to fit on the answer sheet. If the number is outside the limit or exceeds the limit, the candidate will be deemed to have failed.

The same applies to typos and erasures.

Because of this, when taking an exam, everyone will make a rough draft before writing the essay. After making sure it is correct, they will rewrite it again to ensure that the handwriting is neat and the paper is tidy.

This was almost the default rule during the imperial examination, and everyone strictly followed it.

Zhou Yuanjie is also used to seeing such situations.

Suddenly I saw such a different...

Either you are a genius who can prepare a draft in your mind as soon as you are shocked and ensure that there is not a single mistake when writing it, or you are a fool who is self-righteous and will actually make all kinds of mistakes and ruin your own talent.

There are very few geniuses in this world, but many fools. Those who can be seen in the college entrance examination, and who are of this age, are probably the latter.

A sneer appeared on Zhou Yuanjie's lips, and then he put his hands behind his back and continued to look around.

Song Jingyun was concentrating on his work at this moment, and was writing his article at a leisurely pace.

The pens provided by the examination center are neither good nor bad, but just barely usable. The purpose is to check the calligraphy of each candidate.

Many people are used to using the high-quality brushes that they carefully selected. Now they feel very uncomfortable using such a brush, and the words they write look much worse than usual.

At this moment, Song Jingyun moved his wrist slightly, and neat small regular script characters appeared on the paper, flowing smoothly as if printed on a woodblock. They were neatly arranged from top to bottom and from left to right, making people's eyes brighten when they glanced at them.

However, this is an examination room, and other candidates cannot see it. Only the invigilators who pass by from time to time will stop and exclaim when they catch a glimpse of it.

However, it is useless to write well and neatly.

After all, this is an academy exam, and the questions are not easy. A person who can't even write a draft must be a stubborn and self-righteous person. I think the article he wrote is full of conceit.

While Song Jingyun was unaware, many people had secretly shook their heads at him and couldn't stop sighing.

After a week of inspection, Zhou Yuanjie took a short rest, chatted with the people around him, and asked about the supply of drinking water and food in the examination room.

"Your Excellency, according to convention, the examination hall provides each examinee with water and food three times a day. The meals for ordinary people are rice porridge, steamed buns, minced meat and vegetables in the morning, rice and potato and meat slices at noon, and shredded pork noodles for dinner. If the rice and water are insufficient, you can get more."

"Yes." Zhou Yuanjie nodded slightly, and finally asked, "Is there a person named Song Jingyun in this examination room? What number is he in?"

"Song Jingyun?" The man was stunned. "Why did you ask about him, sir?"

"What's wrong?" Zhou Yuanjie raised his eyebrows. "Is there something wrong?"

"That's not the case." The man shook his head. "Song Jingyun was the top scorer in the provincial examination. He is the best scholar in the entire county who took the provincial examination. I have heard about him. But when I was inspecting just now, I saw that Song Jingyun did not prepare a draft and answered directly on the examination paper..."

"I don't know if he is really confident or if he is a little proud because he got the first place in the provincial examination."

The one who answered the questions directly on the test paper was Song Jingyun?

Zhou Yuanjie was stunned for a moment, then stroked his chin and began to think.

Lord Cao was an old friend of his, and he had specifically instructed him to take care of him within the scope of his authority during the college entrance examination.

Zhou Yuanjie took it very seriously at first, and he also wanted to see what kind of scholar could catch the eye of Lord Cao before he even passed the college entrance examination.

He never thought that such a person who made him curious was just a blindly confident person.

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It seems that Lord Cao still makes mistakes sometimes.

After returning to Beijing, I should tell him everything in detail.

Zhou Yuanjie made up his mind, but he still instructed, "Make sure that the things Song Jingyun needs for the exam are sufficient and delivered in time to ensure that he can take the exam smoothly."

Although I look down on such people, since I have already promised others something, I naturally have to do it.

"Yes." Although the man didn't understand why Song Jingyun, who came from a farming family, could be personally taken care of by the academician, but since it was something the academician had asked him to do, he naturally had to do it well.

While eating, Song Jingyun discovered that the bowl he used for eating seemed to be two sizes larger than the one he used during the provincial examination, and there were also many more slices of meat in the rice.

Is it because all those who come to take the exam are students, and after passing they will become scholars, so the candidates are given special care during the academy examination?

Because he couldn't see what was happening in the cells with other people around, Song Jingyun thought about it for a while and decided that this was probably the case, so he ate his meal with relish and finished it all.

After lunch, Song Jingyun put away the article he had written.

It was still early, and he already had an idea for the spring poem in his mind, so he lay down on the table and took a nap.

So, when people including Zhou Yuanjie saw Song Jingyun sleeping soundly during their afternoon inspection, and then looked at others who were writing furiously, they shook their heads and sighed again.

In the evening, the first day's examination papers are handed in, sealed and kept, waiting for the examination to be completed.

At night, the candidates slept in their dormitories.

Those who can't sleep at night toss and turn, some people can barely fall asleep but are always awakened, and some people snore loudly...

Song Jingyun also had some difficulty falling asleep.

Because of a cold and inflammation, my ears have a little tinnitus and my hearing has become not very good. Today, I went to the approval bureau to do some business. The window asked me to go to Sister Baohua to get the documents. I asked her to go to the security guard? Where is the security guard?

The whole room burst into laughter, and he died on the spot...o(╥﹏╥)o 　　 　 (End of this chapter)