Chapter 563 Examination
Zhou Silang listened for a while and said he didn't understand, so he knocked on the bowl and said, "Let's eat quickly. Even if you know, it's none of your business. This is the official's business."
Manbao looked at Bai Shanbao.
Bai Shanbao met her gaze, took a mouthful of rice and said, "Before you can become an official, you must first pass the entrance exam to the provincial academy."
"That's right," Manbao gave him a piece of meat and encouraged him, "Eat more. When you're full, go read a book."
Bai Erlang looked up from his bowl and asked, "Isn't today a holiday?"
Bai Shanbao also stared at Manbao, "I want to read, you have to accompany me, otherwise if you all play, I won't be able to concentrate."
Manbao said there was no problem at all.
It’s not fun outside now anyway.
After hearing this, Bai Erlang angrily stuffed half of the braised pork, which he thought was the most delicious, into his own bowl. He missed Qili Village and his friends in Qili Village.
Whenever he had a holiday, he would go and play with them, play in the village, play in the river, play in the mountains, play in the reeds...
It’s not like now, I only have two friends, there’s no fun place outside, and they are always reading.
Zhou Silang was extremely satisfied. What he admired most about his youngest sister was that she could always concentrate on reading and was always self-disciplined.
He felt dizzy when he saw the words.
Zhou Silang finished eating, cleared the dishes and said, "I'm going to go out for a walk and bring you dinner in the evening. You don't have to go out to buy it."
He said, "There should be a lot of people outside for the roadside sacrifice tonight. You are young, so don't run outside."
Manbao asked curiously, "Fourth brother, should we also buy some incense, candles, and paper money to bring back for the roadside sacrifice?"
"We have people at home offering sacrifices, who are you offering sacrifices to here?" Zhou Silang waved his hand and said, "Do we have to trouble our ancestors to fly all the way here from the village just for a handful of paper money for you? Don't worry, with family here, our ancestors will not be spared from offering sacrifices."
Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang, who wanted to join in the fun, gave up the idea after hearing this.
Five days after Qingming Festival, the provincial school examination will be held.
Mr. Zhuang had long ago brought Bai Shanbao to submit his travel permit, recommendation letter, etc., and obtained the qualification to take the exam.
The education system in the Jin Dynasty was very relaxed, and most of the students in the provincial school were recommended by the county schools.
Except for a very few particularly outstanding county school students, other county school students must take an exam before they can be admitted after receiving recommendation.
Of course, students who are not from the county school and want to go to the provincial school can also apply for the exam on their own, but you have to get a letter of recommendation from an official or a prestigious person.
Otherwise, you can only keep looking for the academic officials of the provincial school to recommend yourself, take a major exam first, and compete for the few exam places before you can take the provincial school exam.
Therefore, the scholars of the Jin Dynasty had to be good at eloquence or poetry, otherwise they would not even get a place in the exam.
If they have neither of the two, then they have to pray that their ancestors were powerful enough to give them a good family background, so that even if they are not good at speaking and their self-recommendation poems are not good, they can still get a place in the exam.
This was true not only for the provincial schools, but also for the six schools in the Imperial College.
All regions would recommend outstanding students to the six schools in the Imperial College. When these students arrived in the capital, depending on the recommendation, some could be admitted directly, while others had to take an examination first.
The six schools would hold examinations every year, and those who failed would be expelled, while those with good character and academic performance could directly become officials, or they could take the Jinshi examination and then become officials.
Of course, students who are not from the Six Schools can also directly register for the Jinshi examination, but the Six Schools of the Imperial College represent the highest educational institutions in the country, and the pass rate of students educated there is higher.
Therefore, the career path that the Bai family and Mr. Zhuang set for Bai Shanbao was an extremely formal and popular one. He first entered the provincial school to take the examination, became the best among them, and then obtained a letter of recommendation to go to the Sixth School.
Then he went to the capital to take the exam, entered the Six Schools to study, and after completing his studies, he took the imperial examination.
Mr. Zhuang felt that it was enough for Bai Shan to be admitted to the provincial school before the age of fourteen, so he was not very nervous about this exam and asked Bai Shan not to be too nervous.
Mr. Zhuang smiled and said, "We're just giving it a try. If we don't pass this year, we can try again next year or the year after."
Bai Shanbao nodded nervously.
Manbao encouraged him, "You can do it!"
Bai Shanbao asked casually, "What if I fail the exam?"
"Then come out and treat us to a nice meal."
Bai Shanbao was stunned and asked, "Shouldn't you be the ones to invite me? I didn't pass the exam and you were so sad."
"What if you don't try your best to eat our meal?" Man Bao said confidently, "And what if you feel bad about this meal and try your best?"
"It's just a meal, why should I care?"
Manbao: "Who knows? Anyway, if you fail the exam, it will be a double pain. If you pass the exam, we will invite you, which will be a double joy."
The scholar who was waiting in line nearby heard this and couldn't help but turn his head to look at Manbao, then at Bai Shanbao. Seeing that he looked only twelve or thirteen years old, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
Are teenagers nowadays so talented?
Shouldn't he take the entrance exam for county school at this age?
I thought so, but in fact there were quite a few candidates of the same age as Bai Shanbao, as many as seventeen or eighteen.
Although the teenagers were nervous, they were also very confident, at least they held their heads high.
The older the candidates are, the calmer they become, but at the same time they are also quite nervous because they find that there seem to be too many candidates taking the provincial school examination this year.
Mr. Zhuang naturally noticed it as well. He sighed and felt more and more that Bai Shan might not have a chance this year.
The number of candidates has increased, but the number of places remains the same, and the difficulty of the test questions has increased.
However, Mr. Zhuang said nothing. He just reached out and patted his shoulder, encouraging him: "Go in."
Bai Shanbao took the examination basket from Daji, bowed to Mr. Zhuang, and then turned to queue up.
Manbao watched him walk into the examination room, then looked around and asked, "Sir, should we go home or wait here?"
The exam will last for two days, and the doors will open to let people in at 5 p.m. tomorrow. We will have to queue up to enter the exam room early in the morning.
However, the important questions were all taken today, and the ones to be supplemented tomorrow are the limited-topic poems.
Mr. Zhuang thought for a moment and said, "I'm going home first. You can do whatever you want. But Daji has to stay here to watch over us. If anyone calls out from inside, there will be someone here to help."
Daji agreed.
Manbao thought about it and said, "Then we might as well stay."
Bai Erlang turned around and pointed to a teahouse and said, "There's a teahouse over there. Let's go there and wait."
There were quite a few people waiting in the teahouse, and both the upstairs and downstairs were full, so the owner moved the tables and chairs outside. Manbao and the other three took a table and sat down, drinking tea while waiting for the examination room to open.
The next chapter will be around 10pm
(End of this chapter)
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