501 Palace Examination Begins
The palace examination would be held in three days. Ping'an had no plan to go home and left directly from the Wang family.
Zhou Heng, Fu An and Zhiyuan all lived in Wang's house. After Chen Xuan and Sanqiang went back, they no longer came.
Wan Changsheng and Mei Niang were of course eager to do so. The Wang family was a family of Jinshi, a true scholarly family. Living there would allow them to be taught more by the great teachers, and the old man could also keep an eye on things. At home, they would be unable to help with anything except food and drink.
Chang Chunfeng didn't dare to disturb his son and was anxious at home. The day before the palace examination, Zhang Jinping invited him home for a drink.
"Brother-in-law, everything is fine. Don't worry. Come, let's have a fight."
Chang Chunfeng, his elder brother-in-law and his father-in-law each drank a small cup.
"Dad, big brother, I told myself not to worry, but it doesn't work. I'm just worrying for nothing.
That kid asked his guard to send me a note today, just because he was afraid that I would worry about him."
He smiled and took out a small note from his purse. Zhang Jinping took it, looked at it, and burst into laughter.
"Dad, look at this, Ping An is really interesting. He made the little man look vivid with just a few strokes. I didn't expect Ping An to be able to do this."
When Mr. Zhang took it and looked at it, he couldn't help but laugh. A little man raised his chin and put one hand on his waist, with a sentence next to him: Dad, don't worry, I'm very capable.
"Son-in-law, although you have been through a lot and Jinyu is still not doing as well as he should, I still want to say that you are blessed. Others would never even think of having such a good child. Even I am blessed by you. For three years, every year when others couldn't buy winter vegetables, he would send them to me every now and then, and he would also have someone come to check my pulse every few days.
Jinyu will definitely not dare to be confused in the future. I told her this time that if there is a next time, even if the son-in-law refuses to divorce, I will help him get a divorce. After the divorce, he doesn't have to go back to his parents' home, he can go directly to the village or the temple. I mean what I say."
"Dad, I'm sorry to have made you worry about our affairs." Chang Chunfeng felt a little ashamed. His daughter now stayed in the Zhang family to learn housekeeping from her aunt, and he was raising his son by himself.
He has been living in the front yard with his son these days. He has no intention of divorcing her, but he wants to scare her anyway.
Otherwise, who knows, she might really bring trouble to Ping An someday.
That was something he couldn't tolerate.
On the second day of April, the three hundred newly qualified candidates arrived outside the Baohe Hall early in the morning. The chief examiner today was the emperor, and all the newly qualified candidates who took the exam were his disciples.
The deputy chief examiner was the Minister of Rites, and the invigilators were the ministers of five other ministries.
The three hundred newly promoted tribute scholars all wore the same tribute scholar uniform and stood in two teams. Ping An stood at the front of the left team. The left was the senior and the right was the second senior.
On the left and right sides are the Royal Guards, standing majestically, also 300 in number. Standing in the front wouldn't feel anything, but those in the middle would feel very depressed.
They all stood upright, and no one dared to whisper. It is no exaggeration to say that the imperial examination has come this far by going through many trials and tribulations.
They had been here for more than an hour. Fortunately, it was not raining and the temperature was not low. Ping'an was thirsty and hungry, but mainly thirsty.
Since yesterday, the gentleman has not allowed them to drink any water. Now they are really thirsty, so they take a sip to moisten their throats. Now it seems that the gentleman's request is right.
Not to mention that they hadn't been to the toilet for more than an hour, they had to wait until noon to enter the hall, which was another hour.
Chenshi is just the beginning. The exam starts at the end of Chenshi and ends at Weishi, which means it will take another hour into the afternoon.
Because I came out very early in the morning, I basically didn't eat, drink or go to the toilet for the whole day. To be more precise, I couldn't even fart.
You can't have the emperor sitting on top and the high officials sitting next to him, and you let out a loud fart and startled everyone, right? Then you'd be so desperate that you wouldn't even be able to find a hole to hide in.
Therefore, the food they eat these days is strictly limited and no food that causes gas is allowed.
This is too difficult, more difficult than the nine-day provincial and metropolitan examinations. You also have to make sure your stomach doesn't growl. You said that most of the people are young and strong, and they don't eat or drink for most of the day, and they still have to make sure not to make a fool of themselves. It requires not only brain power but also willpower.
Soon, officials arrived one after another. Those who arrived earlier basically lined up at the back. Ping An knew that they lined up according to their rank to attend the morning court.
Those who can attend the morning court must be of the fifth rank or above. His biological father is of the lower fifth rank and is not qualified to attend the morning court. According to him, it is right that he cannot come. He can just sleep more at home and does not need to work so hard.
Today is the palace examination, so these high officials don’t need to come too early, otherwise the morning court will be very early, and most people will get up at five in the morning.
Finally, all the court officials went in. A quarter of an hour later, an official from the Ministry of Rites came out from the side door and stopped in front of them.
He talked about a lot of rules, including how to greet, how to answer when asked questions, etc., which the old man had already taught them. The main point was to be careful.
When they entered the hall and the emperor came in, the courtiers knelt and shouted until they followed suit. They were not allowed to raise their heads, let alone look at the emperor.
Only after the emperor said "Stand up" could everyone sit back in their seats and prepare for the next exam.
The examination papers were also opened by the invigilator in front of everyone, and then the officials were asked to check one by one to see if they had just been opened and whether there were any traces. After confirmation, people from the Ministry of Rites would distribute them table by table.
Only then did Ping'an get his test paper.
He has a best skill. As long as he wants, he can concentrate all his attention on doing what he wants to do. As for the people and things around him, he can treat them as air and ignore them.
At this moment, the emperor's eyes would shift to him from time to time.
This little Ping An really kept giving him surprises. He had planned to go down and take a look, but he was afraid of disturbing the child. If anything went wrong, his six yuan would be lost.
That was the first time in the Great Zhou Dynasty in decades, so it was no exaggeration to say it was a good omen.
Besides, this child really gave him too many surprises. If he had not been worried about revenge from foreign races, he would have already given Sun Sicheng and his apprentice a title. Not to mention earl, he could have even given them the title of marquis.
It can only come slowly in the future.
The test took place at noon, when Ping'an and his men dragged their heavy steps out of the palace. Where was the vigorous early morning?
"Young Master, Young Master." Lin Feng trotted up and supported his master.
"Lin Feng, I'm really hungry and thirsty. Oh, I also want to go to the toilet."
Lin Feng smiled and said, "We've brought some food in the car. We'll go back as soon as we get here. We can't go to the toilet here."
Soon Zhou Heng, Zhiyuan, Fu An and Shao Qi all came over.
Ping An drank a small bowl of porridge, but the other four didn't dare to drink it at all, for fear that after drinking the porridge, they would not be able to hold their urine.
"Xiao Wu, go home first, and I'll send Shao Qi and Zhi Yuan back later."
Ping An explained, "My family is still busy recently. I'll go to the toilet, eat and drink something before going back. I've already taken the exam, so there's no point in getting anxious. I'll go back and have a good rest for the night. I'm really tired."
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