When Mu Erpang saw this title, he was at a loss for a moment.

Because just from the literal meaning of these four words, it probably means that the desires and wants of people all over the world are the same?

There are so many things that the people want in common, such as a stable life, honest officials, reduced burdens and taxes, equal treatment, etc. If there is too much room for creativity, it will become too vague and difficult to write.

Moreover, according to Liu Xuezheng's usual habit of setting questions, Mu Erpang felt that although his questions were tricky, he would not set such empty and pretentious questions, so these four words must have a specific source. Only by knowing the source can we guess what Liu Xuezheng was really referring to.

Mu Erpang recalled in his mind, and could only think of two lines of poetry at the moment, one was 'The round moon rises in the cold sky, and everyone in the world says it is the same', and the other was 'The whole world celebrates Cold Food Festival, and it comes from one person for thousands of years'.

The former is about the Mid-Autumn Moon, and the latter is about the Cold Food Festival.

Not only is it not very appropriate, but it also only takes up three words in the title.

Unable to think of a poem or an essay, he began to think about what was in the article. There was also a sentence in "Book of Rites", which was "Rites and music connect heaven and earth, and are respected and loved by all the people in the world". It’s still the same problem as before, the word "desire" is missing.

It seems that the idea of ​​"the four seas are the same" does not work. He kept muttering "four seas" and "desire", racking his brains, and finally remembered a poem, "I want to travel all over the world, but I don't know who I will meet in the end." Now, the three words "四海欲" are there, but the word "同" is gone.

These four seemingly simple words involve so many things that Mu Erpang thought about it for half an hour. Relating to the previous test question of 'Ping Zhongjun Qian' given by Liu Xuezheng, he also broke the question into two words at a time, thinking of the origin of the question in his mind, "The four seas... share the same desire".

For someone who has hundreds of books in his mind, this way of recalling is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

People feel the coldest when they are still.

Nearly another quarter of an hour later, the temperature of the hand warmer in Mu Erpang's hand gradually cooled down, and his feet were frozen. He finally remembered a sentence - 'Within the four seas and in the country, all the people who make a living have the same will and desire.'

Judging from this sentence alone, Liu Xuezheng only picked out the beginning and the end of the sentence and put them together, which is much simpler than the meaningless "No need to ask about passers-by, the poem is on the imperial screen" in the main venue of the college examination.

The difficulty lies in the fact that the word "四海同欲" is too common, which makes people easily think that it is a coherent sentence and not think about its real origin. If we just say "same intention", it will be much simpler than it is now!

The literal meaning of this sentence is very easy to understand, which means that those in power should treat all people equally and make the same demands on them throughout the country. That is the point of "equal treatment" that he had already thought of before.

The main theme is also very easy to write according to this, especially Mu Erpang likes to write about it in connection with the deeds of the founding emperor.

He promulgated some relevant laws when he founded the country.

Although he is fond of using allusions, Liu Xuezheng himself prefers obscure allusions that are unknown to ordinary people.

But if we use the laws promulgated by the founding emperor to praise his achievements, who can say that the allusions used are not good enough?

After thinking of the source, he had an idea. Mu Erpang's expression did not become relaxed, but a little strange.

This is because this sentence comes from "The Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan". The person who set the questions was still Liu Xuezheng.

He seemed to sense Liu Xuezheng's thoughts through the paper - the previous one was about 'Ping Zhongjun Qian', and you like to think about Yan Zi, right? This time I will test you with something about Yan Zi.

If it were someone with a weak psychological endurance, he would probably be so angry that he would vomit blood when thinking about this!

Isn’t it said that the imperial examination also tests one’s mentality? Mu Erpang resisted the urge to continue complaining in his heart and quickly started writing poetry.

Recently, he has been learning to write poetry from Chen Aoshuang. His speed in writing poetry has not increased, but what he writes is better than before.

After the poem was finished, Mu Erpang checked it again from beginning to end and quickly handed in the paper - the examination room was so cold that he could hardly feel his feet.

Many of the scholars were weak and could not stand the cold, and this was only an annual exam, so by the time he handed in his paper, most of the people in the examination room had already left.

When I came out of the examination room, I saw that the weather outside had changed again. There were gusts of cold wind and it was gloomy and snowy.

The other students in Cuiwei answered the questions faster than him, so they all waited for him at the door with their sleeves rolled up.

When he came out, everyone didn't stay any longer. There was no point in talking and drinking outside, so they hurried to the academy.

Chen Cui watched their movements on the light screen and knew they would be back soon, so she had already prepared hot water and ginger soup in advance.

When everyone came back, they first drank a bowl of hot ginger soup, then sat in a row on the kang, took off their damp shoes and socks, soaked their feet in the hot water, and sighed comfortably at the same time. Only then did they feel alive again.

After catching his breath, Cui Fei immediately asked, "The other topics today are fine, but the poem topic is really hard to write. 'The Four Seas Have the Same Desire' is also too vague, and the content is so cold that I feel like my brain is freezing. I racked my brains for a long time and finally wrote a poem."

As soon as these words were spoken, Mu Erpang and the others looked at each other, with an indescribable expression on their faces.

Cui Fei also understood immediately, looked at Mei Ruochu and asked: "Did I write it wrong?"

Now that Lao Buyu has not returned, Mei Ruochu is everyone's little teacher.

So he nodded slightly, told Cui Fei the source, and asked Cui Fei to recite the poem he wrote.

Fortunately, although Cui Fei did not fully understand the topic, he was still discussing the four words about the monarch treating the people well. Although it was indeed a bit biased, it was not too far off.

Afterwards, everyone soaked their feet, changed into warm shoes and socks made of green cloth, and went to the classroom to write out their own papers from memory.

Because Cui Fei's poem and essay were off topic, Mei Ruochu looked at his paper first.

Cui Fei's level is definitely far behind everyone else's, after all, the time he wasted before was quite a lot. But at least I have worked hard this year, and except for poetry and prose, I have made great progress in other areas compared to before.

So there is no need to think about first class, but second and third class should be no problem.

Cui Fei's heart sank at first, but when he heard Mei Ruochu's final words, his heart sank back into his stomach.

He is not the type who would compete or fight for anything. He doesn't care much about gain or loss. In the past, he always aimed to pass the exam. Last year, he made a rare attempt to "compete" for Cui Wuniang by making a bet with Li Rufeng.

Therefore, Cui Fei quickly relaxed his mind and exhaled, "Fortunately, this year's exam is a comprehensive one. If it was like the college entrance examination, with only two types of questions, and poetry accounting for such a large proportion of the score, I'm afraid..."

After saying that, Cui Fei couldn't help but do some calculations. Including this time, Liu Xuezheng has held annual examinations for two years. If he could survive one more time, he would be able to escape from his "clutches".

Afterwards, Mei Ruochu looked at other people's papers and led everyone to compare and discuss with each other. In the end, everyone had a rough idea of ​​their respective rankings.

Mei Ruochu was especially fond of instructing other students in the prefectural academy, so he was aware of the levels of many of them and immediately ranked them in his mind.

Although he was a little arrogant, he felt that he should still be first this time, followed by Wei Xi, Mu Erpang and Chen Aoshuang. Mu Erpang and Chen Aoshuang have always been at the same level. Wei Xi entered the provincial school a year earlier than them, and after feeling a sense of crisis in recent years, he has worked hard and is particularly diligent. His overall level is slightly better than the other two, but the margin of victory is indeed not much, so the specific order of their ranking depends on Liu Xuezheng's opinion.

Wei Shu’s performance was normal. His ranking might not be as good as the other four, but he would definitely be first place.

A few days later, the results of the provincial school were announced.

Without a doubt, Mei Ruochu ranks first on the list and is the first in the first class.

Next up is Mu Erpang, he is second in the first class.

Wei Xi was third and Chen Aoshuang was fourth. Wei Shu performed stably and ranked slightly higher than last year, ranking twelfth in the first class.

As for Cui Fei, just as Mei Ruochu expected, he was in the middle of the second class.

Except for Cui Fei who performed poorly due to some problems with the poetry questions, everyone else did very well.

Moreover, although the annual examination was important, it was not as life-or-death-determining as the imperial examination, so the matter was quickly settled.

This annual examination was scheduled early, so unlike previous ones, after the examination, all the scholars in the provincial school had to attend classes for nearly a month and then have their annual holiday after Laba Festival.

Wei Shu and Wei Xi are not planning to return to Beijing for this New Year.

This was suggested by Wei's parents. Although they also missed their two sons, the journey was already long, and there were snowstorms in various places this year, making it even more unsafe. Secondly, the provincial examination would be held in less than two years. Once the two brothers pass the provincial examination and become juren, they will be able to go to the capital to take part in the metropolitan examination, and the day of family reunion will be in the future. You might as well use this longing for your family as motivation to make a good sprint during this period of time.

And Shen Aoshuang also said that he didn't need to go home. In the minds of Shen Cui and Mu Erpang, he was a "poor little guy" who was not liked by his family, so they were not surprised by this.

Before the twelfth lunar month, Lao Buyu also came back from outside. Although he looked a little tired, he was in very good spirits, radiant and energetic, and looked like he was a few years younger.

Didn't he feel that he was not qualified to be a judge before he set out?

Later, although he received encouragement and recognition from everyone in the academy, he went there bravely, but he was still a little unsure. He wondered if those principals were just reluctant to refuse because of the relationship with the old principal, and they were privately dissatisfied with him.

After going there, Lao Buyu realized that he had thought too much. No one was dissatisfied with him being a judge. Instead, many mountain heads who were also judges politely asked him about his experience in educating a "little Sanyuan" and several scholars in three years.

Ling Qingming did not even receive such treatment, even though Qingzhu had a man named Mu Yunchuan who won six prizes in a row.

But everyone had seen Mu Yunchuan in the academy competition in the early years, and knew that he was extremely talented, which was rare in the world.

Such a person will never be buried whether he is placed in Qingzhu or any other academy.

It also doesn't show how good Ling Qingming's teaching skills are, and the other headmasters privately think that they can do it too.

On the contrary, in the academy competition three years ago, Cuiwei was definitely a shabby makeshift team. They gave up in several small competitions and couldn't even make it to the finals. They only entered the semi-finals with the help of Hongle's old headmaster.

Mu Erpang, who became one of the top three, could only participate in the small competition of throwing pots at that time and was completely incapable of participating in other competitions.

In addition, the memorable Wei Xi was physically weak, and the mathematically skilled "Zhang Sheng" was disabled.

This academy has gathered almost all the old, weak, sick and disabled people.

Isn’t it a miracle that, under such conditions, a student like that could be trained to become a top student?

This made Lao Buyu very happy, and he couldn't help but smile as he came back and talked about it.

"When my senior brother first met me, he was so arrogant and told me to be humble. His expression clearly said, 'My academy only gave out six yuan, and yours only gave out three yuan, there's nothing to say.' But when he turned around, the other headmasters flattered him and only surrounded me, asking me for advice. This made him so angry that his face became darker day by day!"

Shen Cui listened to his words, imagined the scene, and curled the corners of her lips.

Everyone in the academy gathered together again.

Since Cuiwei was founded, Shen Cui has never had the opportunity to celebrate the New Year with so many students, so Shen Cui wanted to have a good time.

Before she could figure out how to celebrate, Lao Buyu told her a piece of good news.

The host of the academy competition this year is Wenjun Academy, which is as famous as Hongle Academy. Although Principal Liu of Wenjun Academy is not as respected as the old principal of Hongle Academy, he is also a famous teacher and is very good at predicting questions and solving problems.

In the words of later generations, Principal Liu was a teacher who was particularly good at exam-oriented education, and he knew the likes and dislikes of each examiner.

"Isn't our provincial education commissioner also surnamed Liu? Although he and Principal Liu are not relatives, they are destined to be together. Principal Liu accepted his invitation and will give lectures in the provincial schools in the spring of next year."

Is it a good thing for the young people in Yudu’s prefectural school to be able to receive free lessons from famous teachers? !

Therefore, the young men were all cheered up when they heard this.

Cui Fei had been planning for half a year and finally found the right opportunity. He let everyone know while they were together, adding to the joy.

"My family helped me find a marriage partner half a year ago, and they have almost decided on one recently... I will probably get married soon after the New Year."