Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"The first place in the September exam is Ji Yuan." Master Zhao said. Although the students in the private school were almost used to it, they still exclaimed a little.

What’s wrong with Ji Yuan’s head?

First again!

He started learning later than everyone else, but he learned better than everyone else.

On the first day of October, it was raining outside, but Ji Yuan was still outside the private school.

The only difference was that Master Zhao had someone build a canopy when it rained before, which just happened to block the splashing rain.

Even so, the environment outside the window will always be much worse than that indoors.

Even so, Jiyuan still ranked first.

From February to the end of September, the students in the private school were obviously convinced.

Ji Yuan got the opportunity to take the county school examination.

But there are two places in the private school, and the remaining one will be given either to An Dahai or An Xiaohe.

However, An Xiaohe was not here today. He went to the county town with his mother, Mrs. An Er.

An Xiaohe's uncle, Liu Xiucai, the younger brother of An Erniang, personally wrote a letter to the county school. According to his status as a scholar, he was eligible for this extra place.

Ji Yuan secretly sighed in his heart that An Xiaohe's mother had indeed put in a lot of effort to help him get into the county school.

But this is just the registration qualification. Whether you can actually attend classes in the county school depends on your test scores.

"Ji Yuan, An Dahai, please stay for a while."

After the class, the two of them were left behind again.

But this time it was not a small class, but instructions about the exam.

Master Zhao said, "The government has already issued the specific time for the exam. You can take a look."

After that, Master Zhao continued, "After all, you have only started learning the Four Books and Five Classics this year. Compared with the students in many private schools in the county, and even the students in other villages, you are a little late."

"So just do your best. This time you will take the county exam. The county school instructors have deliberately simulated a simple exam scene so that you can feel the atmosphere of the exam in advance."

Master Zhao's tone was not harsh today, and even An Dahai relaxed and continued to listen.

The general meaning is that the county school's enrollment this time is not only to recruit outstanding students, but also to simulate the children's examination for students with good grades in the county.

Take a large-scale mock exam.

This way, when they take the exam to become scholars, they will have more confidence.

The county school in Zhengrong County is quite thoughtful.

Ji Yuan didn’t know if it was the same in other county schools, but this kind of help was really rare.

The county school examination is scheduled for October 8th, which leaves only seven days.

On the eighth day of October, the examination starts at 7:00 a.m. and ends at 7:00 p.m.

It continues at 15:00 in the afternoon and ends at 15:00 in the afternoon.

The exam is from 8 am to 12 noon, and from 2 pm to 6 pm.

A total of four hours, eight hours.

"Four hours?!" Ji Yuandu exclaimed.

An Dahai couldn't believe it even more. They usually took one hour to take exams in the private school, so two hours was a lot.

This time, it’s a total of four hours within one day?

Master Zhao was also helpless: "I didn't expect the requirements for this exam to be so strict."

Even Master Zhao said so, it seems that it is indeed not easy.

"But it is a test for you. It is difficult for you. It is also difficult for other students." Master Zhao comforted them.

Ji Yuan has calmed down and said, "Do your best and leave no regrets."

It would be great if you pass the exam, but if you fail, just see how other people’s formal exams perform.

Master Zhao also said: "Yes, this is a good idea."

"You must not relax in the next few days. You still need to memorize the books and write the articles."

"Especially your handwriting." Master Zhao shook his head helplessly, "Practice more."

The last person to be spoken was naturally Ji Yuan. He also understood and would practice well!

He couldn't save paper anymore, so he asked Uncle An Wu to buy some new paper yesterday, and this time he spent almost all the money he had.

Let’s do it!

"In addition to daily homework, you must prepare what needs to be prepared."

"Pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, and clothes without words on them. Keep yourself healthy, and don't get sick."

Master Zhao shared his experiences one by one.

I can't eat any weird food recently and I need to get enough sleep to keep enough energy to prepare for the four-hour exam.

Ji Yuan was spoken with great tension.

Fortunately, he had experienced the college entrance examination, so he could remain calm in such a situation as taking the school entrance examination.

On the way home, An Dahai was so scared that he limped.

It is one thing to know that you have an exam, but it is another thing entirely to know that the exam is coming up.

Ji Yuan knew that at times like this, he could only recover slowly by himself, but he still said, "We have learned so much anyway, no matter what, the exam is over, don't worry too much."

In fact, this is not the case. After passing the county school entrance examination, one still has to take the boy's examination, the provincial examination, and the metropolitan examination.

Not to mention these important things, there is also the admission to the county school, as well as the various large and small monthly and annual examinations in the county school.

There is no end to exams.

I remember when he was in school, during the high school entrance examination, the teacher said that everything would be easy after the exam, but then he found out that there was still the college entrance examination.

After the college entrance examination, there is the postgraduate entrance examination, which is so complicated that Ji Yuan is exhausted.

I didn't expect that he would use these words to fool his friends now.

But it does work.

An Dahai nodded: "That's it, I'll take the test with my eyes closed. Anyway, I know my own strengths and weaknesses."

Although An Dahai is clumsy in studying, he is not stupid after all.

He knew that he could rank among the top students in the private school because of the help of Ji Yuan, the academic master.

Even so, An Xiaohe, who found the right method, caught up several times.

In An Dahai's mind, the only one in their private school who could be admitted to the county school was probably Ji Yuan.

But he didn't dare say that.

I can only think about it silently in my heart.

In the next few days, the private school was filled with an atmosphere of exam preparation, and the Mongolian students were trembling with fear.

Ji Yuan always felt that this atmosphere was both familiar and unfamiliar.

Preparation for exams has always been so stressful in every era.

Aunt Ji and Uncle Ji are showing signs of mischief again and want Ji Yuan to do more work.

Unexpectedly, a message came from the silk shop in the county town, asking Ji Li to go to the county town for a few days to try out the job and see if he could do it.

After waiting for so long, it’s finally here!

This was going to the county town to be an apprentice. Uncle Ji and his family started to busy themselves for Ji Li and sent Ji Li to the county town on October 6th.

On the morning of the day they went, the three of them got up very early. Ji Yuan looked at them and said nothing. Aunt Ji looked at them with her chin pointed: "See? They are going to the county town to be apprentices. They can take over the job of the accountant in the future."

"It would be a loss to give it to you, it's better to give it to my son. Do you really think that anyone can pass the exam to become a scholar? Your Ji family is not so lucky!"

Uncle Ji seemed to be hesitant to speak, but finally shut up.

If it were really possible to pass the exam and become a scholar easily, would scholars still be so rare?

Ji Yuan ignored him and turned away.

Don't rush into argument.

His task now is to prepare for the exam.

Seeing him leave, the family of three became even angrier.

The most powerful contempt is to ignore.

No matter what you did or didn't do, it has nothing to do with him.

You don't understand his world at all.

Ji Yuan did his work as usual. After arriving at the An family, Mrs. An said, "You don't have to herd cattle for the next few days. Come to my house for three meals a day."

Then he whispered, "Your uncle An also agreed to give you three extra meals."

He has been herding cattle for the An family since February of the era, and he is usually conscientious and diligent in his work.

In July, the method of silage storage was also proposed. Uncle An had inquired about it and learned that this method was also used in other places. It was said that it would provide fodder to eat in the winter and would give a better impression of the era.

This time they went to the county to take the exam. With two children in their family, adding one more Ji Yuan wouldn’t be a big deal.

Uncle An was able to build such a family business, so he was naturally different from others and obviously wanted to make friends with Ji Yuan.

Ji Yuan thanked him for the kindness, which indeed made him feel a lot more relaxed.

At the An family, special tutoring was provided for three candidates.

Madam An Er was in charge of the stove. Her brother had taken the imperial examination, so she had experience. Although she had extra meals for the three people, she didn't make anything greasy. She said, "You can't eat greasy and spicy food before the exam, and don't eat beans or anything like that. You can't drink cold water either."

The three of them nodded their heads in agreement and had egg custard and stir-fried vegetables for breakfast.

For lunch, we had scrambled eggs and fried meat with mushrooms, and each person had a bowl of fish soup.

Eat a small amount of rice and don’t eat too much, otherwise you will feel sleepy.

These are all the experiences shared by Mrs. An Er.

An Dahai sighed, "The days of preparing for the exam are surprisingly easy."

An Xiaohe was about to nod when he saw Grandpa walk in.

"Uncle An, thank you very much." Ji Yuan thanked him again.

Uncle An waved his hand and said to his two grandsons, "Preparing for the exam? That's so easy! Look at the white rice you eat, and the noodles made from fine flour in the evening."

"And your exam qualifications, do you know how much it cost me? Do your best in the exam, do you hear me?"

Uncle An has been feeling a lot of pain in recent days.

It is not so easy to ask An Erniang's younger brother Liu Xiucai to write a letter of recommendation. He will have to send some "tuition fees" to her.

Gaohuo means giving money and food.

What?

We are all relatives, so we don’t have to give it?

That's not a dream. If we weren't relatives, we wouldn't even have this opportunity.

An Dahai and An Xiaohe took turns to be the second and third, and one of them would definitely fail. No matter who fails the exam, there would definitely be a fuss.

In order to maintain peace in his family, Uncle An gave money to Second Lady An before his eldest and third daughters-in-law quarreled, and asked her to seek help from Mr. Liu.

After listening to this, Ji Yuan admired Uncle An even more.

People say he is stingy, but when it comes to big things, he is very decisive.

After dinner, the three of them went to the private school to review their lessons.

However, most of the students in the private school were ignorant and always disrupted their thinking.

An Xiaohe and An Dahai made up their minds and simply moved out of the private school.

Master Zhao tacitly agreed to this, and the three of them studied on the grass outside the private school, and they studied more attentively.

The time finally arrived at October 8th.

The autumn wind had already begun to blow, and the three people who got up at the hour of Yin all felt chilly.

The other two quickly changed into the clothes handed to them by their family, and Ji Yuan had already sat on the ox cart.

The one driving the ox cart was An Dahai's father. His father was usually taciturn, but he was an expert on farmland, and this time he came in person to deliver the goods.

Madam An Da and Madam An Er also followed and took food for the three of them.

The ox driving the carriage turned around and waved to Ji Yuan.

It was daybreak.

Let’s go to the county town to take the exam!

Master Zhao watched his students walk away.

Do well in the exam, there is a vast world waiting for you out there.