After decades of hard study, they passed the examinations for Tongsheng, Xiucai, and Juren, and finally made it to the spring examination hall. However, they fainted in the examination hall due to exhaustion and lost the qualification to take the exam. They were heartbroken. Could they wait another three years?
Old Sun didn't understand or know anything. He just watched the students leave the examination room dejectedly, not knowing where they were going.
Old Sun regretted waiting at the door. He looked down at his two grandsons and asked them, "Are you scared?"
They both shook their heads: "Don't be afraid. If you pass the exam, you'll pass. If you don't, you can follow Grandpa to farm or go to school to teach children. These are all ways out. Why should you be afraid?"
Old Sun was relieved and patted the two on the head: "Good kids."
Old Sun was no longer worried about his younger grandson, but was worried about his older grandson who was in the examination room. He originally thought that he would feel more at ease if he watched here, but now that he saw the fate of these people, his heart could not calm down again.
While Old Sun was feeling anxious, the exam ended and the candidates walked out of the exam room one after another.
As Old Sun and his two grandsons squeezed toward the door, they heard the passing students discussing the topic of this spring examination:
"As expected, this Spring Examination is very simple."
"You think it's easy, but I think it's too difficult!"
Old Sun looked in the direction of the voice and saw that the student was wearing gorgeous clothes. Even though it was still a student's uniform, it couldn't hide his noble aura.
Rich young men all hire the best teachers to teach them, and if they all find it difficult, then this exam must be really difficult.
Old Sun was getting more and more worried about his grandsons. When he saw his eldest grandson coming out, he didn't dare ask him how he did on the exam. He just asked, "Are you tired? Are you hungry? Are you thirsty?"
The old man, who had always been stingy and had been eating flatbreads with his two grandsons for seven days, took out some money, grabbed his eldest grandson's hand and walked out: "Come on, let's go to the restaurant next door to eat. Grandpa will buy you whatever you want to eat."
The eldest grandson quickly stopped the old man from walking towards the luxurious restaurant and dragged him to the small stall on the other side: "Grandpa, I've been eating dry pancakes and steamed buns in the exam hall these past few days. I want to drink some soup. How about we have a bowl of plain noodles?"
Yangchun noodles are the simplest to make. Just boil a handful of noodles, dissolve a little lard in the noodle soup, sprinkle with a handful of chopped green onions, and don’t even add any salt.
How could Old Sun bear to let his eldest grandson eat all this? He dragged his eldest grandson past the noodle stall and said, "Then let's have something with meat."
Old Sun took his three grandsons to eat wontons, and each of them had a bowl.
The eldest grandson looked at the wontons being served, asked for another bowl, and passed his own bowl to the old grandson: "Grandpa, I can't finish it."
“We can’t finish it!”
The two little grandsons also handed their wontons to the old man, but the old man refused again and again: "No, no, no."
The eldest grandson smiled and said, "Let's eat together. If you don't eat, we won't eat either."
Old Sun watched the three children counting the wontons in their bowls. I had one extra and you had one less, so they all had to share them. Finally, the extra one was put into Old Sun's bowl, and they picked up their spoons contentedly and started eating.
Old Sun suddenly felt something stuck in his eyes. He turned around, wiped it with his sleeve, and picked up the bowl to eat.
After eating and drinking their fill, the four generations of grandparents and grandchildren slowly returned home in a ox cart.
On the day when the results were announced, Old Sun was waiting at the door.
His neighbor jokingly said, "If you want to know the results, go and see the notice. We're not far from the capital, so why not go and take a look?"
"Yeah, if I hadn't won, there wouldn't be anyone here to announce the good news. And if I had won, who would know where you live?"
Old Sun thought about it and didn't consider the loopholes in his words at all. His eldest grandson heard it in the house and was about to say that when taking the exam, one must write down the name, hometown and address clearly to avoid making mistakes when taking the exam.
Who knew that Old Sun was fooled? He ran into the house and grabbed his eldest grandson and ran: "Come on, let's go and see the notice!"
The eldest grandson was in no hurry to tell the old man his address. He simply said, "Grandpa, I've only been studying for two or three years. How can I expect to pass the exam right away? We can go and see what's going on, but don't get our hopes up."
Old Sun nodded repeatedly. "I saved it, I saved it. How could I not know that? Didn't you take the exam? I've been looking forward to it. And you also said that the topic of this year's exam is about encouraging agriculture and water conservancy."
"Of course, I don't need to mention encouraging farmers. As for water conservancy, last year the Crown Prince went to build a dam, and we sent people from our farm to help deliver food. You followed them around and spent quite a bit of time at the dam, so you naturally know about it."
"So, I have some hope in my heart."
Not only did Old Sun agree with this, but the neighbors who were sitting on the ox cart and joining in the fun also said:
"I heard someone say that writing an article requires... what is it?"
"That's a lot of words!"
"Yes, yes, yes, be meaningful! You know so much, how can there be no hope?"
With everyone's encouragement, the eldest grandson felt a little hope in his heart. The long road suddenly became shorter, and he arrived at the entrance of the Imperial Examination Hall in almost the blink of an eye.
The entrance to the Imperial Examination Hall was already crowded with students, parents, helpers who wanted to report the good news and ask for rewards, and people waiting to find a husband for the winner.
What's wrong with being of low birth?
If you pass the imperial examination, your whole family will be transformed!
Who doesn’t want a promising son-in-law?
Old Sun squeezed forward. He didn't know many words, but he knew how to write his grandson's name. This was something he and his younger grandson had learned specially during the days when his eldest grandson was preparing for the Spring Imperial Examination.
Old Sun squeezed to the front and realized that the list had not been posted yet. Just as he was about to ask when it would be posted, two guards came out holding a long list:
"Post a notice!"
Suddenly, the people gathered at the door took a few steps back, watched the guards post the list, and then swarmed in again.
Old Sun was carried backward and then forward by the crowd. He stood in front of the list and began to search for the name of his eldest grandson.
He looked forward a little bit from where he was standing, and when he didn't see his eldest grandson's name, he shook his head, a little disappointed but also expected: "Don't worry, don't worry, my eldest grandson has only been in school for a few years."
As he was comforting himself and trying to get out, he heard someone ask:
"Sun Quanxue? Who is this? What an unfamiliar name."
"I went to Beijing to take the imperial examination last year. I've lived in the capital for almost a year, but I never heard of this person taking the exam. You can see how low-key he is."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was guessing who Sun Quanxue was. Even if there was one person who had never heard of him, with so many students gathered in the capital, and poetry gatherings of all sizes happening every now and then, any student who could make the list must be well-known among the students.
But none of them had ever heard of this person!
But they don’t know who it is, but Old Sun knows!
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